David Silbey specializes in the industrialized total wars of the 20th century and the asymmetric responses (guerrilla warfare, insurgency, and terrorism) to those wars that evolved after 1945.

The Director of Teaching and Learning of the Cornell in Washington program, Professor Silbey has written multiple books, including The British Working Class and Enthusiasm for War, 1914-1916; A War of Empire and Frontier: The Philippine-American War, 1899-1902; and The Boxer Rebellion and the Great Game in China, 1900. His latest book, The Other Face of Battle: America’s Forgotten Wars and the Experience of Combat, looks at how America struggles in wars other than conventional. He is also the series editor for Cornell University Press’ Battlegrounds: Cornell Studies in Military History

Professor Silbey earned his undergraduate degree from Cornell and his Ph.D. from Duke University.