Description:

The Grand Strategy Program presents a conversation with historian, and GS alum, Katherine Epstein on her new book, Analog Superpowers: How Twentieth-Century Technology Theft Built the National Security State (University of Chicago Press). Drawing on a wealth of archival evidence, Analog Superpowers tells the story of British inventors Arthur Pollen and Harold Isherwood, who, in the early 20th century, built the most advanced analog computer of the day. Both the British Royal Navy and the United States Navy pirated it. When the inventors sued, the British and U.S. governments invoked secrecy, citing national security concerns. Epstein deftly sets out Pollen’s and Isherwood’s pioneering achievements, the patent questions raised, the geopolitical rivalry between Britain and the United States, and the legal precedents each country developed to control military tools built by private contractors.

Epstein is an Associate Professor of History at Rutgers University-Camden. Her research focuses on the intersection of defense contracting, intellectual property, and government secrecy. In addition to her historical work, she also writes essays and op-eds about politics and academia, which have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Liberties, and American Purpose. Epstein will be in conversation with Kaete O’Connell, Assistant Director of the Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy and Lecturer in Global Affairs.