Description:

Michael O’Hanlon, the inaugural holder of the Philip H. Knight Chair in Defense and Strategy and director of research in the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution, will deliver a book talk on his forthcoming history of American defense policy, To Dare Mighty Things: U.S. Defense Strategy Since the Revolution. In the book, O’Hanlon traces the history of U.S. military strategy, budgets, forces, operations, and wars over the country’s entire 250-year history. One thing stands out above all others: the United States has never been a shrinking violet in military matters. It was highly expansionist for the first half of its history and highly interventionist for almost all the remainder, to date. The terms “isolationist” and “pacifist” do not apply; even the term “peaceful” would be a major stretch. “America the assertive” might be a better and more accurate slogan for describing the country and its military role in world affairs. But there is also so much more to parse out of the history, and O’Hanlon will dive into a few select periods to illustrate the broader trends and themes.