On grand strategy: A conversation with John Lewis Gaddis

On May 8, the Project on International Order and Strategy at Brookings hosted John Lewis Gaddis, the Robert A. Lovett Professor of Military & Naval History at Yale University, for a discussion of his new book “On Grand Strategy” (Penguin Press, 2018). A leading historian and one of the founders of Yale’s Brady Johnson Program in Grand Strategy, Gaddis has taught on these themes for nearly two decades. In a “book that should be read by every American leader,” Gaddis reflects on the lessons learned through a series of vignettes assessing strategy in theory and practice from the ancient world to World War II.

Following his remarks, Gaddis was joined for a discussion on these themes by Robert Kagan, Stephen & Barbara Friedman Senior Fellow with the Project on International Order and Strategy at Brookings, and Mara Karlin, associate professor of the Practice of Strategic Studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), where she serves as associate director of the school’s Strategic Studies Program.

Thomas Wright, senior fellow with the Project on International Order and Strategy, provided introductory remarks. Following the discussion, panelists took questions from the audience.