Please join us for a presentation, Q&A, and signing with local author Mary Thompson-Jones as she presents her newly released book, “America in the Arctic, Foreign Policy and Competition in the Melting North”.
Presentation:
As climate change accelerates, the Arctic has become a frontline of global competition.
Melting ice, rising temperatures, and swelling seas have made remote regions newly accessible but also rife with new dangers. Vladimir Putin’s Russia has embarked on a substantial military buildup in the Arctic. China has declared itself a “near-Arctic nation” and is also building an aggressive presence, and President Trump has brought new attention to the region with his talk of "taking" Greenland.
Drawing from her newly published book, America in the Arctic, Mary Thompson-Jones will make the case for a much deeper -- and broader -- U.S. commitment to a region threatened by climate change and major geopolitical rivalries. She will briefly trace the history of the U.S. presence in the far north from the purchase of Alaska through the Cold War and suggest lessons from the past that should inform America’s relationships with its Arctic neighbors today.
About the Author:
Mary Thompson-Jones is a professor of National Security Affairs at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. As a member of the Newport Arctic Scholars Initiative she has presented on Arctic security panels in Denmark, Norway, and Greenland, and teaches an elective course, “Imagining the Arctic.”
She is the author of America in the Arctic, Foreign Policy and Competition in the Melting North (Columbia University Press 2025), and To the Secretary: Leaked Embassy Cables and America’s Foreign Policy Disconnect (Norton 2016).
She is a former Foreign Service Officer who served in diplomatic posts in the Czech Republic, Canada, Guatemala, Spain, and Washington, D.C. She retired with the rank of Minister-Counselor.
Mary also teaches diplomacy at the University of Rhode Island. She holds a doctorate in education from the University of Pennsylvania, a master of arts in law and diplomacy from Tufts University’s Fletcher School, and undergraduate degrees in journalism and political science from California State University.
She lives in Tiverton, Rhode Island, with her husband, Robert Sturdy.
Looking to plan your next visit to Rhode Island, check out some of the current special offers and enjoy savings, extra perks and more!
