Book Talk: Faith and Fear
Quincy Institute board member Greg Daddis’s new book “Faith and Fear” offers a sweeping and ambitious reflection on America’s relationship with warfare since WW2. As a 26 year veteran of the U.S. military, the former chair of American History at West Point, and a current Professor of History at Texas A&M Col. Daddis has a unique perspective on this history. The book examines not just the factual story of America’s wars, but at a deeper level the nation’s emotional connection to war, both the hope that war could be a transformative and potentially positive force, and the fear of the potential and actual devastation that war can bring. From the beginning of the Cold War with the Soviet Union to current and potential conflicts in the Middle East and with China, the book offers a perspective informed by both personal experience and deep study.
Marcus Stanley, director of studies at the Quincy Institute, will speak with Col. Daddis about his book on Wednesday, September 17th from 12:00 – 1:00 PM Eastern Time. Please join us for what should be a fascinating conversation.
Program
Entities
Panelists
Greg Daddis
Gregory A. Daddis is professor of history and the Melbern G. Glasscock Endowed Chair in American History at Texas A&M University. He previously served as the director of the Center of War and Society at San Diego State University, where he held the USS Midway Chair in Modern U.S. Military History. He served 26 years in the U.S. Army before entering academia. Daddis specializes in Cold War history with an emphasis on the American war in Vietnam. He has now authored six books, including "Faith and Fear: America's Relationship with War Since 1945" (2025) and a trilogy on the American war in Vietnam with Oxford University Press. He was the recipient of the 2022-2023 Fulbright Distinguished Scholar Award, Pembroke College, University of Oxford. After graduating from West Point, Daddis served for 26 years in the US Army, retiring as a colonel. He is a veteran of both Operations Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom and his military awards include the Bronze Star, the Legion of Merit, and the Meritorious Service Medals. He served as the Command Historian to the US Multi-National Corps-Iraq (MNC-I) in Baghdad, Iraq. His final assignment in the army was as the Chief of the American History Division in the Department of History at the United States Military Academy.
Marcus Stanley
Marcus Stanley is director of studies at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. Prior to joining the Quincy Institute, he spent a decade at Americans for Financial Reform, where he played a leadership role in policy formulation and advocacy to reform regulation of the U.S. financial system. He helped direct the efforts of a coalition of 200 organizations on a range of legislative and regulatory initiatives to challenge the power of Wall Street. Before that, he was an economic and policy advisor to Senator Barbara Boxer, as a Senior Economist at the U.S. Joint Economic Committee. While there, he produced “War at Any Price?” — a seminal study on the full costs of the Iraq invasion, used to build political support to end the U.S. role in the war. He also taught Economics at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland for six years. He has a Ph.D. in public policy from Harvard, with a focus on economics.