David Ellwood is Senior Adjunct Professor of European and Eurasian Studies, Johns Hopkins University SAIS Europe. He was Associate Professor in International History, University of Bologna, until November 2012.

His first major book was Italy 1943-1945 - The Politics of Liberation, 1985, (Italian edition, Feltrinelli 1977) then came Rebuilding Europe. Western Europe, America and Postwar Reconstruction, 1992 (Italian edition, Il Mulino 1996). The fundamental theme of his research - the function of American power in contemporary European history - has shifted over the years to emphasize cultural power, hence two edited books on the theme Hollywood in Europe (Ponte alle Grazie 1991, Amsterdam 1995). His large-scale work on America and the politics of modernization in Europe was published by Oxford University Press in July 2012 as The Shock of America. Europe and the Challenge of the Century. A specially adapted Italian edition was published by Carocci in November 2012. A Chinese edition is currently in production.

He was President of the International Association of Media and History 1999-2004. He is a member of the board of Transatlantis, a new digital humanities project based in Utrecht.