Mary Dudziak was born on June 15, 1956, in Oakland, California. She is a legal scholar and historian who has specialized in foreign policy, civil and human rights, and international relations. She received her juris doctor (JD) and PhD from Yale University. Currently, she is a professor specializing in constitutional law, war, and legal rights at Emory University Law School in Atlanta, Georgia.

Her books include a history of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks in the United States, September 11 in History: A Watershed Moment? (2003); a book on Supreme Court judge Thurgood Marshall, Exporting American Dreams: Thurgood Marshall’s African Journey (2011); and War Time: An Idea, Its History, Its Consequences (2012), among others. Dudziak serves on the US State Department’s Historical Advisory Committee, was a Nonresidential Fellow of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, and is a Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations.