Jon Sumida received his B.A. (1971) from the University of California, Santa Cruz [United States], with honors, and his M.A. (1974) and Ph.D. (1982), the latter with honors, from the University of Chicago. He has been a fellow-commoner of Churchill Archives Centre, Cambridge University (1983); a fellow of the Wilson Center twice (1986 and 1995-96) and of the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation (1990-91); and Visiting Distinguished Professor in the Department of Military Strategy and Operations at the National War College, in Washington (2000). Dr. Sumida is associate professor of history at the University of Maryland.

Publications: of Sumida's numerous articles, two won the Moncado Prize from the Society for Military History (1993 and 1995); in 1997 he received the Naval History Author of the Year Award for 1996 from the U.S. Naval Institute. His books include: Inventing Grand Strategy and Teaching Command: The Classic Works of Alfred Thayer Mahan Reconsidered (1997 and 1999); In Defence of Naval Supremacy: Finance, Technology, and British Naval Policy, 1889-1914 (1989 and 1993); and The Pollen Papers: The Privately Circulated Printed Works of Arthur Hungerford Pollen, 1901-1916 (1984).