FAITH HILLIS
Writer and Historian
BIO
Faith Hillis is an historian of Russia and modern Europe, with special interests in nineteenth- and twentieth-century politics, culture, and ideas and East-West exchanges. She was educated at Princeton and Yale and has taught at the University of Chicago since 2010. She has held fellowships at Columbia, Harvard, and the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library; her research has been funded by ACLS, Fulbright-Hays, and the NEH, among others. In 2026, she was named a Guggenheim Fellow. She frequently comments on Russian and Ukrainian affairs and welcomes inquiries from journalists and policy-makers. She is also an experienced expert witness in immigration and civil matters.
CURRENT PROJECT
I am close to finishing my third book, provisionally entitled Forging The Protocols: How Swindlers, Opportunists, and a Host of Historical Accidents Created the Most Notorious Conspiracy of All Time. The book is a "biography" of the notorious antisemitic forgery, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Telling the stories of the many authors and works on which the text draws—which include adventure novels, political satires, and family sagas—it asks how these diverse sources came together to form a single, monstrous libel. Shedding new light on the enduring mystery of the forgery's origins, it reconstructs how an international group of adventurers collectively co-authored the text over the course of several decades. The book also reflects on how the surprising story of The Protocols' creation changes how we should read it.
PAST RESEARCH
Children of Rus'
Utopia's Discontents
Digital Projects
COMMENTARY
"The most effective strategy would center on making the Western luxury lifestyle impossible for oligarchs and on seizing the considerable wealth that they have stashed abroad."
-"Seize the Oligarchs' Wealth," The Atlantic, 26 February 2022
"Immigration exclusion was bad policy in the 19th century, and it is bad policy today. In a globalized world, ideas and activism cannot be contained by borders."
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-"Why trying to distinguish between useful and dangerous immigrants always backfires," Washington Post, 16 August 2019
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"Ukrainians have been victims of Russian imperialism and Soviet aggression. At the same time, they've played a central role in the creation of modern-day Russia."
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-Interview with The World’s Marco Werman, 17 February 2022
CONTACT
1126 E. 59th St
Chicago, IL 60637
Booking requests:
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For speaking engagements, lectures, readings, and workshops:
Annette Luba-Lucas
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Literary representation: kathleen@andersonliterary.com
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