William Oliver Stone (born September 15, 1946) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer and veteran. Stone came to public prominence between the mid-1980s and the early 1990s for writing and directing a series of films about the Vietnam War, in which he had participated as an infantry soldier. Many of Stone’s films focus on contemporary and controversial American political and cultural issues, such as JFK, Natural Born Killers, and Nixon.

Stone’s films often combine different camera and film formats within a single scene as evidenced in JFK, Natural Born Killers, and Nixon.  British newspaper The Guardian has described Stone as “one of the few committed men of the left working in mainstream American cinema.”  Stone has received three Academy Awards for his work on the films Midnight Express, Platoon, and Born on the Fourth of July. He was presented with the Extraordinary Contribution to Filmmaking Award at the 2007 Austin Film Festival.

Stone is co-author of the New York Times best-selling book The Untold History of the United States.

 ABOUT PETER KUZNICK
Peter Kuznick, Professor of History at American University, is author of Beyond the Laboratory: Scientists As Political Activists in 1930s America (University of Chicago Press), co-author with Akira Kimura of Rethinking the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Japanese and American Perspectives (Horitsu Bunkasha, 2010), co-author with Yuki Tanaka of Genpatsu to hiroshima – genshiryoku heiwa riyo no shinso (Nuclear Power and Hiroshima: The Truth Behind the Peaceful Use of Nuclear Power) (Iwanami, 2011), and co-editor with James Gilbert of Rethinking Cold War Culture (Smithsonian Institution Press). 

A New York native, he received his Ph.D. from Rutgers University in 1984. He was active in the Civil Rights and anti-Vietnam War movements and remains active in antiwar and nuclear abolition efforts. A critic of the U.S. decision to use atomic bombs in World War II, he publishes and speaks frequently on that topic, other aspects of nuclear history, and 20th Century U.S. history in general.

Kuznick is co-author of the New York Times best-selling book The Untold History of the United States.