WILLIAM WOODRUFF is Graduate Research Professor (Emeritus) in Economic History at the University of Florida in Gainesville. He holds degrees from the universities of Oxford, London, Nottingham, and Melbourne (honorary). He has lectured extensively in Europe, Asia, America, and Australasia. He has been professor in residence at a number of universities, including the Freie Universität, Berlin, Waseda University, Tokyo, the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, and St Antony's College, Oxford. His research in world history and global development has received the support of the Houblon-Norman Committee of the Bank of England, the Fulbright Committee, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Japan Society for the Advancement of Science.
Woodruff's books include Impact of Western Man, America's Impact on the World, The Struggle for World Power, The Emergence of an International Economy and a best-selling memoir The Road to Nab End. His writings have been widely translated.