Lewis Lapham was educated at the Hotchkiss School, and Yale and Cambridge Universities. He was marked early for a journalism career, working first for the San Francisco Examiner and, by age 25, covering the United Nations for the International Herald Tribune. Lapham served as the editor of Harper’s Magazine for nearly 30 years. He is now its national correspondent. Lapham’s own monthly column, “Notebook,” won a 1995 National Magazine Award for expressing an “exhilarating point of view in an age of conformity.” Lapham is also the founding editor of Lapham’s Quarterly, a forthcoming history journal.

He is the author of several books of essays including "Fortune’s Child," "Money and Class in America," "Imperial Masquerade," "Hotel America," "Waiting for the Barbarians," "The Wish for Kings," "Theater of War," and "Gag Rule: On the Suppression of Dissent and Stifling of Democracy." "Pretensions to Empire," his latest essay collection, was published in September 2006 by The New Press. Mr. Lapham has written for Life, Commentary, Vanity Fair, National Review, Yale Literary Magazine, Elle, Fortune, Forbes, The American Spectator, Channels, The New York Times, Maclean’s, The London Observer, and The Wall Street Journal. He has also been the host of a documentary series for television, America’s Century, as well as the host and executive editor of the series Bookmark (1989-91).