Peter Kuznick, co-author with Oliver Stone of Untold History of the United States, discusses Roosevelt's attitude towards Hitler and the Soviet Union.

Peter Kuznick
Associate Professor
Department of History

The author of Beyond the Laboratory: Scientists as Political Activists in 1930s America and coeditor of Rethinking Cold War Culture, Professor Kuznick is currently writing a book about scientists’ opposition to the Vietnam War. As director of American University’s award winning Nuclear Studies Institute, he takes students on an annual study abroad trip to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He spearheaded the Committee for a National Discussion of Nuclear History and Current Policy in response to the Smithsonian’s Enola Gay exhibit and co-founded the Nuclear Education Project. He writes often and lectures frequently about nuclear issues in general and the atomic bombings in particular. He has recently completed a historically based Hollywood screenplay and teaches the path-breaking course Oliver Stone’s America. He regularly provides commentary to the media on a broad range of subject and was selected Organization of American Historians Distinguished Lecturer, 2004-2007.

Degrees:
PhD, Rutgers University
MA, Rutgers University
BA, Rutgers University

William Oliver Stone (born September 15, 1946) is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. Stone came into public attention in the mid 1980s and the early 1990s for writing and directing a series of films about the Vietnam War, in which he had participated as an infantry soldier. He won further attention—and controversy—with the films JFK, Natural Born Killers, and Nixon. Many of Stone's films focus on contemporary American political and cultural issues. Stone has received three Academy Awards for his work on the films Midnight Express, Platoon, and Born on the Fourth of July. Stone was also presented with the Extraordinary Contribution to Filmmaking Award at the 2007 Austin Film Festival. British newspaper The Guardian described Stone as "one of the few committed men of the left working in mainstream American cinema." Stone's films often combine different camera and film formats within a single scene (including VHS and 8 mm film) as evidenced in JFK, Natural Born Killers, and Nixon.