Making the Forever War: The Enduring Insights of Historian Marilyn Young
WATCH VIDEO OF THE EVENT BELOW
What drives the forever war? First and foremost, it is a failure to learn the lessons of the past, argued the late Marilyn Young, a preeminent historian of American warmaking and its impact at home and abroad. This virtual panel examines her ideas and legacy, captured in a new collection of her essays, Making the Forever War: Marilyn Young on the Culture and Politics of American Militarism. Young shows how the United States has formed a domestic politics and culture that enable the country to be continually at war, without the American people paying much attention. Long before 9/11, she reveals, the conditions for endless war were laid in U.S. military actions in Korea, Vietnam, and beyond.
To discuss Young’s work, the Quincy Institute has assembled a panel of distinguished historians who knew Marilyn personally. The discussion features QI President Andrew Bacevich; QI Nonresident Fellow and Emory Law Professor Mary L. Dudziak, who co-edited Making the Forever War; and QI Nonresident Fellow and Johns Hopkins Assistant Professor Christy Thornton. Stephen Wertheim, QI’s Director of Grand Strategy, will moderate.