Historian Timothy Snyder to Receive 2025 Moynihan Prize
Historian Timothy Snyder, whose work exploring the “bloodlands” between Western Europe and the Russian empire has proven remarkably timely over and over, will receive the 2025 Daniel Patrick Moynihan Prize from The American Academy of Political and Social Science, the AAPSS announced today. “As the world confronts formidable challenges to democratic institutions, human rights, and the rule of law, Timothy Snyder’s work to document the brutal consequences of totalitarianism is a sobering reminder of our recent past,” said Marta Tienda, the president of the AAPSS. “Moreover, Tim draws on that history in ways that make it relevant to our current circumstances: He asks us to carefully consider the very concept of liberty and urges us to value leadership that promotes sound governance for human rights.”
The Moynihan Prize is awarded annually to a leading policymaker, social scientist, or public intellectual whose career demonstrates the value of using evidence to inform public policy, improve public discourse, and advance the human condition. Named in honor of the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the prize carries forward his legacy of public service that is informed by intellectual engagement and scholarship.
Snyder will accept the Moynihan Prize and deliver the 12thannual Moynihan Lecture on Social Science and Public Policy in Washington, D.C., this fall. Previous recipients of the Moynihan Prize include economist and columnist Alan S. Blinder, sociologist and professor William Julius Wilson, ambassador Samantha Power, and children’s rights advocate Marian Wright Edelman. A full list of previous winners can be found on the AAPSS website.
“At a time when engaged social science is both necessary and threatened,” he was quoted, “I am particularly honored to join the list of distinguished colleagues who have received the Moynihan Prize.”
Snyder is the Richard C. Levin Professor of History at Yale University, the inaugural chair in Modern European History (supported by the Temerty Endowment for Ukrainian Studies) at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto, and a permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna. A scholar of the history of Central and Eastern Europe—particularly Ukraine and the Soviet Union—and of the Holocaust, Snyder wrote or edited 20 books, including the 2010 bestseller Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin. More recent works include 2015’s Black Earth: the Holocaust as History and Warning, 2017’s On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, 2018’s The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America, and last year’s On Freedom.
His contributions to the international press cover digital politics, health, authoritarianism, tyranny, freedom, international human rights, and the Russian war against Ukraine. His historically informed commentary took on greater salience with the Ukraine war and with the advent of the second Trump administration, with his warnings against “anticipatory obedience” and concerns about the innate falseness of “bothsiderism” resonating widely.
Snyder also heads the academic advisory council of the Ukrainian History Global Initiative. He has received numerous prizes, including the 2023 Medal of the Learned society of the Czech Republic, the2018 Prize of the Foundation for Polish Science, and the Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thought for Bloodlands. He was a Guggenheim fellow in 2003 and a Carnegie fellow in 2015.
