In writing his latest book, America’s Greatest Blunder:The Fateful Decision to Enter World War One, Burton Yale Pines mobilized his decades of experience observing policy-making and historical crises. Initially trained as a historian at the University of Wisconsin (Madison), where he taught European history to undergrads, he ultimately joined Time Magazine, reporting from Germany, Viet Nam, Chicago and Vienna, there serving as East European Bureau Chief. Then, as a Time editor, he chronicled much of the Cold War. Later, for more than a decade in Washington as a think tank executive, he witnessed first-hand the making of foreign policy. In addition to writing more than 1,000 articles and several dozen cover stories for Time, he is the author of Back to Basics (1982, William Morrow) and Out of Focus (1993, Regnery). A three-time recipient of the New York Newspaper Guild’s “Page One Award for Excellence in Journalism,” his essays on foreign and defense policy have appeared in the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and other national publications.