Ian Buruma studied Chinese at Leiden University and cinema at Nihon University College of Arts, Tokyo. He has written for newspapers and magazines all over the world, including the New York Times, the FAZ, and the Guardian. He was Cultural Editor of the Far Eastern Economic Review (Hongkong), Foreign Editor of The Spectator (London), and Editor of the New York Review of Books (New York). He is currently the Paul W. Williams Professor at Bard College, NY. His latest book is Spinoza: Freedom’s Messiah (Yale University. Press).