On September 23-24, 2005, the Institute for the Study of War and Diplomacy hosted its first Symposium, "War and Power: Defining the American State." Funded by an InQuery Grant from the Lilly Endowment, the symposium brought scholars from around the United States to the University of Indianapolis to present papers and discuss their research. Fred Anderson and Andrew Cayton were the keynote speakers and their book, The Dominion of War: Empire and Liberty in North America, 1500-2000, served as the foundation for the conference. Other invited guests presented their own research and responded to Anderson and Cayton. Institute faculty and invited speakers responded to each presentation. Sessions included:
Robert E. May (Purdue), “Rogue States Old and New: Gunboat Persuasion, Citizen Marauders, and the Limits of American Imperialism.”
Carol Reardon (Penn State), “Billy Yank and Johnny Reb Take On the
World: The Civil War
Generation’s View on American Imperialism, 1865-1940."
Chester J. Pach (Ohio), “From Vietnam to Iraq: The First Television War and Its Legacies.”
William R. Th ompson (Indiana), “War and U.S. Systemic Leadership.”
Steven W. Hook (Kent State), “The Paradox of American Hegemony.”
The symposium papers and other chapters, including one written by the renowned military historian Jeremy Black, have been collected and are forthcoming from Routledge University Press as a book edited by A. James Fuller and Lawrence Sondhaus. Its title is War and Power: Defining the American State.
