Derek Leebaert

Derek Leebaert is an author and technology executive who has written several books on American history and the military. His works include Fifty-Year Wound: How America’s Cold War Victory Shapes Our World (2002), To Dare and to Conquer: Special Operations and the Destiny of Nations from Achilles to Al Qaeda (2006), and Grand Improvisation, for which he won the biennial 2020 Truman Book Award. Leebaert's latest book is Unlikely Heroes: Franklin Roosevelt, His Four Lieutenants, and the World They Made.

A longtime technology executive, Leebaert cofounded Linguateq, a telecom billing software, and has worked as a management consultant focusing on the IT, healthcare, and defense sectors. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve and is a director of the U.S. Army Historical Foundation as well as a founder of the National Museum of the United States Army. Leebaert is also a coauthor of an MIT Press trilogy on the information technology revolution and a founding editor of International Security and The International Economy.

Articles by this Author

The Mystery of Henry Wallace, Spring 2024 | Vol. 69, No. 2

Many historians and the author of a recent book have seriously misjudged the influential former vice president and cabinet secretary.

Who Really Was FDR?, Summer 2023 | Vol. 68, No. 4

He could be charming and witty, but also devious and cruel, said aides closest to Franklin Roosevelt.

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