John Lewis Gaddis este profesor de istorie „Robert A. Lovett” la Yale University si directorul fondator al Brady?Johnson Program in Grand Strategy. Dintre lucrarile sale amintim The United States and the Origins of the Cold War: 1941-1947 (1972), Strategies of Containment: A Critical Appraisal of American National Security Policy during the Cold War (1982), The Landscape of History: How Historians Map the Past (2002), Surprise, Security and the American Experience (2004) si The Cold War: A New History (2005). The New York Times l-a numit „decanul istoricilor Razboiului Rece”. A primit doua distinctii pentru activitatea sa didactica la Yale, iar in 2005 i s-a decernat medalia National Humanities. In 2012, studiul sau George F. Kennan: An American Life a primit premiul Pulitzer pentru biografie.