Tim Blanning

Tim Blanning is Professor Emeritus of Modern European History at the University of Cambridge. A Fellow of the British Academy since 1990, Tim has published extensively on the political and cultural history of Europe in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. Among his publications are The Culture of Power and the Power of Culture (2002), The Pursuit of Glory: Europe 1648-1815 (2007), The Triumph of Music (2008) and The Romantic Revolution (2010).  Tim's books have been translated into Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Hungarian, German, Polish, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Croatian and Arabic. His most recent book is a best-selling and prize-winning biography of Frederick the Great King of Prussia, published by Penguin/Random House. For his current project on the exciting if notorious Augustus ‘the Strong’ of Saxony and Poland he has expanded his area of expertise to include the Baltic countries and Eastern Europe.

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.

Hugh Agnew

Hugh Agnew has been fascinated by the lands and peoples of Russia and Eastern Europe since he first walked into a Russian language class in 10th grade. Having decided as an undergraduate to major in History and focus on the region, he pursued doctoral study at Stanford and became a history professor. He has taught graduate and undergraduate courses on the history of Eastern Europe and the Balkans, the Russian Revolution, Europe from Cold War to Detente, the Habsburg Empire, and nationalism at Queen's University in Canada, the National University of Singapore, and (since 1988) at the George Washington University, where he is a member of the Institute for Russian, European, and Eurasian Studies at the Elliott School of International Affairs. He has also served as Senior Associate Dean for Academic and Faculty Affairs at the Elliott School. Agnew has published books on Czech history and many articles on aspects of East European history, the Habsburg Empire, and European history. His insightful talks on past Smithsonian Journeys throughout Eastern Europe have made him a favorite with Smithsonian travelers.

Christopher Brennan

Christopher Brennan, lecturer at the London School of Economics and Political Science, is a historian of Central and Eastern Europe with a special interest in the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Holy Roman Empire, Germany and the history of the Czechs. Though British, he grew up in south-western France. He obtained a BA in Modern Languages (German and Russian, plus Czech) at the University of Bristol and a Master’s in Slavonic Studies from Oriel College at the University of Oxford.

Dr. Brennan studied for a PhD at the London School of Economics on the subject of the collapse of the Habsburg Empire and the responsibility therefore of its last monarch, Emperor Karl I. He taught undergraduates for four years, with a one year hiatus in Paris lecturing American undergraduates on French history and on the history of Eastern European Communism. He has  written on the memory of World War I in the former Habsburg Empire and on the Balkan Wars. He authored chapters to two volumes on the collapse of Austria-Hungary and its aftermath and is now working on a biography of Karl I.

Bertrand Patenaude

Dr. Bertrand Patenaude is an expert in modern European history and international relations at Stanford University, where he is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution. Dr. Patenaude has lectured throughout Europe and has led several study tours on the Danube, including his first trip for Smithsonian Journeys in 1991. He first came to the region as a student in Vienna, during his Junior Year Abroad in 1975-76, and he spent a year as a graduate student at the University of Vienna in 1977-78. He received his BA from Boston College and his MA and PhD from Stanford University. Dr. Patenaude is the author and editor of several books on European, Russian, and American history. His most recent book is Trotsky: Downfall of a Revolutionary, which was serialized for radio in Great Britain by the BBC. His first book, The Big Show in Bololand: The American Relief Expedition to Soviet Russia in the Famine of 1921 (Stanford University Press, 2002), won the 2003 Marshall Shulman Book Prize and has been made into a documentary film for Public Television. He taught for eight years in the Department of National Security Affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, where his outstanding performance as a classroom instructor was recognized with the Schieffelin Award for Teaching Excellence for two consecutive years.

Peter Bobrowsky

Peter Bobrowsky is a professional archaeologist and geologist with 40 years of experience working as a consultant, scholar, teacher and researcher across the globe. His academic achievements include almost 500 publications - 20 technical books such as the Encyclopedia of Natural Hazards, Encyclopedia of Engineering Geology and The Landslide Handbook - the latter written for the general public has been translated into Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, and Japanese; induction as an International Fellow of the Explorers Club of New York and Fellow of the Geological Society of America. He is the recipient of numerous awards including most notably the Eugene Shoemaker Communications Award for Best Book (2009), the Edward B. Burwell Jr. Award for Engineering Geology (2011), the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012) and the James Harrison Outstanding Achievement Award (2020).

Dr. Bobrowsky has a prominent history of international positions and appointments in particular Secretary General of the International Union of Geological Sciences an NGO representing some 1 million earth scientists around the world, President of the Canadian Quaternary Association, President of the Geological Association of Canada and President of the International Consortium on Landslides.

A popular global public speaker for the past 25 years he remains a much sought after and well-liked lecturer for the Smithsonian since 2004. His multi-disciplinary background and extensive travel to over 110 countries contribute to his unique, informative and enthusiastic speaking style. A born extrovert, with an easy going manner, Peter strives to understand and explain the crucial links between a diverse and dynamically changing Earth and the evolution of changing societies through history.

He divides his time between travel adventures and home life near Sidney by the Sea on Vancouver Island.