Center for a New American Security

The Center for a New American Security hosted the book launch for The Generals: American Military Command from World War II to Today by Thomas E. Ricks, CNAS Senior Fellow, on Thursday, November 8 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Ricks discussed his study of the history of American military leaders and the growing divide between military performance and accountability. Susan Glasser, Editor in Chief of Foreign Policy, interviewed Ricks, followed by Q&A with the audience.

Date & Time

Thursday, November 8, 2012

6:00-6:30 p.m.: Guest registration and book sales
6:30-7:45 p.m.: Moderated discussion followed by Q&A
7:45-8:30 p.m.: Book-signing cocktail reception

Location
The Willard InterContinental Hotel's Grand Ballroom
1401 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20004

Follow the event on Twitter  @CNASdc #RicksTheGenerals

About the book 

In The Generals , Mr. Ricks sets out to explain why history has been kind to the American generals of World War II and less kind to the generals of the wars that followed. He traces the history of military leadership culture, beginning with the Second World War and taking the reader through the evolution of a culture that neither punished mediocrity nor rewarded risk-taking. The result is a story about the transmission of values, strategic thinking and the difference between an organization that learns and one that fails.

About the Speakers

Thomas E. Ricks is a Senior Fellow at CNAS. He has authored four books on U.S. military affairs, including Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2003-2005 and The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008. Mr. Ricks also writes an online blog for ForeignPolicy.com called "The Best Defense," for which he won the 2010 National Magazine Award as the best blog of the year. Mr. Ricks was formerly a Senior Writer-in-Residence at CNAS. He covered the U.S. military for The Washington Post from 2000-2008. Mr. Ricks was a reporter for 17 years at the Wall Street Journal and was part of a reporting team there that won the Pulitzer Prize for national reporting in 2000. He was also part of a Washington Post team that won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize.

Susan Glasser is Editor in Chief of Foreign Policy. A longtime foreign correspondent and editor for The Washington Post, Ms. Glasser joined Foreign Policy in 2008 and has been spearheading the magazine's ambitious expansion in print and online at ForeignPolicy.com. During her tenure, the magazine has won numerous awards for its innovative coverage, including three digital National Magazine Awards, and was recently honored for online general excellence by the Overseas Press Club. Ms. Glasser spent four years as co-chief of the Post's Moscow bureau and covered the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq for the Post in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. She also co-authored Kremlin Rising: Vladimir Putin's Russia and the End of Revolution.