Paul Kennedy

"How the Second World War Was Won"

Thursday, April 12, 2007
Noon
Mershon Center for International Security Studies
1501 Neil Ave., Columbus, OH 43201

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Lecture
In this lecture, Paul Kennedy will talk about a new book project, an operational history of the Second World War, which, unlike his earlier writings (such as The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers), will pay much more attention to the nuts-and-bolts of how grand-strategical decisions get implemented in the field, at sea, and in the air.  Kennedy will discuss his first three chapters, "How to Get a Convoy Safely across the Atlantic,"  "How to Win the Air War over Western Europe," and "How to Land an Army on a Hostile-held Coastline."

Biography
Paul Kennedy is the J. Richardson Dilworth Professor of History and Director of International Security Studies at Yale University, and internationally known for his writings and commentaries on global political, economic and strategic issues.

Kennedy is the author and editor of 19 books, including Strategy and Diplomacy, The Rise of the Anglo-German Antagonism, The War Plans of the Great Powers, The Realities Behind Diplomacy, and Preparing for the Twenty-first Century. His best-known work is The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, which provoked an immense debate upon its appearance in 1988 and has since been translated into more than 20 languages. 

In 1991 Kennedy edited a collection entitled Grand Strategies in War and Peace.  He helped draft a report for an international commission on “The United Nations in its Second Half-Century,” which was prepared for the 50th anniversary U.N. debate on how to improve the world organization.  His new book on the evolution of the United Nations, entitled The Parliament of Man: The Past, Present, and Future of the United Nations, was published in summer 2006.

Kennedy holds honorary degrees and fellowships from many organizations including the Royal Historical Society, American Philosophical Society, and American Association of Arts and Sciences.  He was made Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 2000 for services to history and elected Fellow of the British Academy in June 2003. 

Kennedy is on the editorial board of numerous scholarly journals and writes for The New York Times, The Atlantic, and many foreign-language newspapers and magazines.  His monthly column on current global issues is distributed worldwide by the Los Angeles Times Syndicate/Tribune Media Services.

Born in June 1945 in the northern English town of Wallsend, Northumberland, Kennedy obtained his B.A. at Newcastle University and his doctorate at the University of Oxford. He is a former fellow of the Institute for Advanced Studies, Princeton, and of the Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung, Bonn.

Kennedy is currently writing a study of the British imperialist author, Rudyard Kipling, as well as a collection of essays on naval history.

Paul Kennedy
J. Richardson Dilworth Professor of History
Director of International Security Studies
Yale University