Cruising the Historic Cities of the Baltic Sea

Glenn Kranking

Glenn Kranking is Associate Professor of History and Scandinavian Studies at Gustavus Adolphus College. He received his Ph.D. in History from The Ohio State University, and has lived and researched in Sweden, Estonia, Finland, and Russia. His area of research includes Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea Region with an emphasis on the 19th and 20th centuries, nationalism, and minorities. One of his more recent courses looks at Nordic Explorers, from the Vikings to the Polar explorers.

Robin Wright

Robin Wright has been a contributing writer to The New Yorker since 1988. Her first piece on Iran won the National Magazine Award for best reporting. A former correspondent for the Washington Post, CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, and the Sunday Times of London, she has reported from more than a hundred and forty countries. She is also a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. She has been a fellow at the Brookings Institution and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, as well as at Yale, Duke, Dartmouth, and the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Wright received the U.N. Correspondents Association Gold Medal for international coverage, and the Overseas Press Club Award for the “best reporting in any medium requiring exceptional courage and initia­tive,” for her coverage of African wars. The American Academy of Diplomacy named her journalist of the year for “distinguished reporting and analysis of international affairs.” She also won the National Press Club Award for diplomatic reporting and has been the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation grant.

Wright is the author of several books, including “The Last Great Revolution: Turmoil and Transformation in Iran,” “Sacred Rage: The Wrath of Militant Islam,” and “Dreams and Shadows: The Future of the Middle East,” which was selected by the New York Times and the Washington Post as one of the most notable books of 2008. Her book, “Rock the Casbah: Rage and Rebellion Across the Islamic World,” was selected as the best book on international affairs by the Overseas Press Club.

Nadia Kizenko

Nadieszda Kizenko teaches Russian and East European History at the State University of New York at Albany.  She received degrees in Russian History and Literature at Harvard University, Columbia University, and the Harriman Institute. Prof. Kizenko explores the intersection of nations and empires, of history and culture, and the extent to which religion has been a constituent element of national and imperial identity.  She has long been fascinated by how the intersection with Asia has formed a Russian identity distinct from its neighbors, both Slavic and Western. For Russia in particular, this means a lens through which it sees itself as uniquely open to other cultures—but with a unique message as well.

Prof. Kizenko’s research, supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Social Sciences Research Council, and the National Council for Eurasian and East European Research, has allowed her to publish widely on questions of religion as an instrument of empire.  Her first book, A Prodigal Saint:  Father John of Kronstadt and the Russian People, won the Heldt Prize; a recent article, “The Feminization of Patriarchy?”, won the Best Article award from Association for the Study of Eastern Christianity.  Prof. Kizenko is currently writing a history of confession in the Russian empire.

Hugh Neighbour

Hugh Neighbour brings many years of experience as a diplomat for the U.S. and an officer in the U.S. Navy, mostly working overseas.  Specialized in political and economic affairs, he was posted in Latin America, Asia/Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and North America.  Hugh was awarded the Secretary of State’s Career Achievement Award as well as a number of Department of State awards for distinguished service. 

Since retiring from the U.S. State Department in 2010, Hugh has worked as a consultant in both Washington and overseas, served as an official observer for several elections overseas, and lectured aboard high-end cruise ships. Several times a year, Hugh directs a course in advanced foreign area studies to select groups in the Washington region.  Hugh will offer a fresh, up-to-date perspective on the history, culture, and current affairs of the fascinating peoples and places you will visit.