Mark Lawrence Schrad is an associate professor of political science at Villanova University outside of Philadelphia, where he teaches graduate and undergraduate courses on Russian politics and history, post-communist democratization, comparative politics, international law, international organizations, and globalization. He holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, an MA from Georgetown University and undergraduate degrees from the University of Northern Iowa, while also having attended Bryn Mawr College, Moscow State University and Moscow International University.

His first book, "The Political Power of Bad Ideas: Networks, Institutions, and the Global Prohibition Wave" was published by Oxford University Press in 2010.

His second book, "Vodka Politics: Alcohol, Autocracy and the Secret History of the Russian State" was released by Oxford University Press in 2014, and has been translated into a half dozen world languages.

His new book, "Smashing the Liquor Machine: A Global History of Prohibition" is available in July of 2021. Hailed as "one of the best nonfiction books of 2021," and recipient of a Kirkus star for exceptional merit, it uncovers the long hidden history of prohibitionism worldwide, resulting in a fundamental reappraisal of the role of temperance and prohibitionism in American history.