September 24, 2009 | Events

Author and Historian Bacevich to Deliver Leopold Lecture

The best-selling writer will speak Oct. 13

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Andrew Bacevich, an influential historian and author known for his blunt commentary on American foreign policy, will deliver the 20th annual Richard W. Leopold Lecture at Northwestern University.

Bacevich, author of last year's New York Times best-seller "The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism," will deliver a speech of the same name at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 13, in the McCormick Auditorium of the Norris University Center, 1999 Campus Dr., Evanston campus. The event is free and open to the public.

A professor of international relations and history at Boston University, Bacevich is a leading scholar of the armed services. In "Limits of Power," he deconstructs decades of military policies arguing that America's lust for empire, coupled with a myth of indestructibility, has deluded and diminished the nation.

A West Point graduate, he served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War and held posts in Germany and the Persian Gulf before retiring as a colonel in the early 1990s.

Bacevich's books include "The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War" and "American Empire: The Realities and Consequences of U.S. Diplomacy." He has contributed to national publications including The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Boston Globe, U.S. News & World Report and Newsweek.

In 1990, former students of Richard W. Leopold, an eminent diplomatic historian, established the Leopold Lectureship in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. The lectureship honors Leopold's enduring influence on his students and on Northwestern. A dedicated educator for more than 40 years, he nurtured generations of undergraduates.

For more information about the Leopold Lecture, contact Estelle Ure at (847) 467-3005 or e-ure@northwestern.edu.

Media should contact Wendy Leopold at (847) 491-4890 or at w-leopold@northwestern.edu.