About Gil Troy

Gil Troy is Professor of History at McGill University in Montreal, and a Visiting Scholar affiliated with the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington.

His latest book, “The Reagan Revolution: A Very Short Introduction” was published last fall by Oxford University Press, as was the book he co-edited with Vincent Cannato “Living in the Eighties.” This fall, Facts on File is planning on publishing the revised and updated edition he edited of the multi-volume classic “History of Presidential Elections” originally edited by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., and Fred Israel while Sterling Publishing Company of Barnes & Noble will release a new illustrated edition of “The Reagan Revolution: A Brief Insight” in January, 2011.

Troy’s book Leading from the Center: Why Moderates Make the Best Presidents was published in June, 2008 by Basic Books, shortly after the University Press of Kansas released the paperback edition of his book Hillary Rodham Clinton: Polarizing First Lady, having been published in hard cover in 2006. Troy is the author of Morning in America: How Ronald Reagan Invented the 1980s, published in 2005 by Princeton University Press and released in paperback in 2007. It has been called a “masterly study of Ronald Reagan’s presidency – the best single book we have on his administration to date.” His two other works in American history were Mr. and Mrs. President: From the Trumans to the Clintons (2000) – first published by The Free Press as Affairs of State: The Rise and Rejection of the Presidential Couple Since World War II and See How They Ran: The Changing Role of the Presidential Candidate, originally published by the Free Press in 1991, then released in an updated paperback edition by Harvard University Press in 1997.

Troy is also the author of Why I Am a Zionist: Israel, Jewish Identity and the Challenges of Today. The book has been hailed as a “must read,” and the most persuasive presentation of the Zionist case “in decades.” It has been released in a third expanded and updated edition, having sold over 25,000 copies.

Troy is a native of Queens, New York. He received his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from Harvard University. After receiving his Ph. D in History in 1988, he taught History and Literature at Harvard for two years. In September 1990, Troy became an assistant professor of history at McGill University. In 1995, Troy was promoted to Associate Professor and granted tenure. From 1997 to 1998 he served as chairman of McGill’s history department. In March, 1999 he was promoted to Full Professor. Maclean’s magazine has repeatedly labeled him one of McGill’s “Popular Profs” and the History News Network designated him one of its first 12 “Top Young Historians”. He has appeared on most major Canadian and American television networks and has been widely published and quoted in the media. He can be reached via email at gtroy@videotron.ca