Bio

After a 21-year career as an infantry officer in the Army, Fred Zilian was an educator at Portsmouth Abbey School, 1992-2015, where he taught history, ethics, and German. He was an adjunct professor (history and politics) at Salve Regina University, 2016-2022. He now lectures on a wide variety of subjects and offers tours of Newport and of the Battle of Rhode Island (1778). Fluent in German.

Zilian holds a Ph.D. in international relations/strategic studies from the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University. He is the author of numerous articles, essays, and book reviews on history, American society, Germany, religion, music, education, climate change, and globalization in numerous publications from the Wall Street Journal to the Newport Daily News. 

He has also published a book: From Confrontation to Cooperation: The Takeover of the National People’s (East German) Army by the Bundeswehr. For 20 years he performed as Abraham Lincoln in his one-man play, “Honest Abe.” 

He writes for The Hill (www.thehill.com ), the History News Network (www.historynewsnetwork.org ), and the Online Review of Rhode Island History (www.smallstatebighistory.com ). He blogs on a wide variety of subjects at www.zilianblog.com . He is writing a book on “The Citizen and the Challenge of American Civilization.”