Alfred W. McCoy

Alfred W. McCoy is the Harrington Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His work spans modern empires, Philippine political history, global drug trafficking, and CIA covert operations. He holds a Ph.D. from Yale University, alongside an M.A. from the University of California-Berkeley and a B.A. from Columbia College.

His research has produced seminal works such as The Politics of Heroin (1972), which exposed CIA complicity in drug trafficking, and To Govern the Globe (2021), analyzing imperial systems from the Black Death to climate crisis. His investigations into torture, surveillance, and Philippine military culture have won major awards, including the Wilbur Cross Medal (2012) and the Association for Asian Studies’ Kahin Prize (2011).

McCoy has advised students like Christopher Hulshof and Daniel Jackson. His teaching focuses on Southeast Asian history, U.S. foreign policy, and imperial studies. Courses include The Vietnam Wars and CIA Covert Warfare.

His contributions include exposing Marcos’s 'fake medals' in the New York Times and co-editing award-winning volumes on Philippine historiography. He currently holds the J.R.W. Smail Chair in History and has received the Hilldale Award for Arts & Humanities.