The Bernard L. Schwartz Fellows Program: Recent and Upcoming Events

From one of our leading experts on foreign policy, a full-scale reinterpretation of America's dealings -- from its earliest days -- with the rest of the world. It is Walter Russell Mead's thesis that the United States, by any standard, has had a more successful foreign policy than any of the other great powers that we have faced -- and faced down. Beginning as an isolated string of settlements at the edge of the known world, this country-in two centuries-drove… more

Holy War, Inc.: Inside the Secret World of Osama bin Laden is an extraordinary, in-depth account of Osama bin Laden and his global network by CNN?s terrorism analyst, Peter L. Bergen. One of only a handful of western journalists to have met and interviewed bin Laden, Bergen has done an exhaustive job of researching the man and the Jihadist network of al-Qaeda-the prime suspects in the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks of September 11.

Over the… more

In the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11th, the debate surrounding National Service has drastically changed. Average Americans are suddenly eager to know what they can do personally to help the war effort, and lawmakers are beginning to provide answers. Senators John McCain and Evan Bayh have introduced legislation to dramatically expand the size and scope of voluntary national service programs such as AmeriCorps to include civil defense.

"Americans did not fight and win World War II… more

This event is the Washington, D.C. book launch of Ted Halstead & Mike Lind's The Radical Center: The Future of American Politics. James Fallows, Chairman of the Board of the New America Foundation, will offer opening remarks.

"A political manifesto worthy of the Information Age."-- SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN

"A provocative, thoughtful, and timely message for the political establishment and the governing class, The Radical Center should be mandatory reading for everyone in office and… more

When was the last time religious, moral, or social considerations triumphed over science? How will the culture war over stem cells and human cloning change the face of American politics? Is the American experiment -- the idea that God and progress would never clash beyond compromise -- on the brink of extinction? Can technology be stopped even if the democratic majority wanted to stop it? Join us for what is sure to be a lively discussion.

With America "at war," as President Bush says, every aspect of American Defense, but especially homeland defense, needs to be re-examined. But huge controversies remain. In the horrible new era of suicide-bomber airlines, does missile defense make sense? Or do we need to get ready for the next escalation? Can the Bush Administration proceed with its ambitious agenda for national missile defense if the Russians oppose it? And the Chinese? And the Europeans? Is there… more

The national conversation about aggressive police tactics in communities of color has largely broken down along predictable political lines, with many liberals calling for reform and many conservatives defending the status quo. James Forman, Jr. a fellow at New America Foundation, where he writes on issues relating to education and juvenile justice, argues that this should not be the case. How our society polices kids of color in the inner-city runs counter to core conservative values. Forman believes… more

When former antagonists Napster and Bertelsmann made friends a few months back, many assumed that the war between copyright and technology was over; that a workable scheme for protecting Intellectual Property in new media was on the horizon. Not so, argues Brendan Koerner: efforts… more

We hope you can join in a brownbag lunch and informal discussion with New America Foundation Senior Fellow Margaret Talbot, who has just finished a major feature story for The New York Times Magazine on a cult actively working to clone a human in the United States. Margaret will talk about what she has learned in researching and writing the story, and you may be surprised to learn just who is working at the frontiers of human genetics.

Debra Dickerson's An American Story is a success story: it's about her journey from a poor black St. Louis neighborhood into the ranks of America's public intellectuals, by way of the U.S. Air Force and Harvard Law. But the moral of the story is not that race and class no longer matter; … more

From the heated health care skirmishes of the Democratic primaries to Bush's recently unveiled Social Security plan, social programs are shaping up to be defining issues in the 2000 elections. And with Bush and Gore each offering prominent plans for personal investment accounts and expanded health coverage respectively, the nation seems once again on the brink of a bitter political fight over the philosophy and future of American social insurance.

Jacob Hacker will evaluate these changing election-year debates in their larger historical… more

Mike Lind argues that for too long, American thinking about the Vietnam conflict has been hobbled by the rigid orthodoxies of the right and left. In his new book, he thoughtfully reconsiders the meaning of Vietnam from the post-Cold War vantage point, which offers … more

As the record-setting rise of the NASDAQ again reminds us, the New Economy promises tremendous wealth to the technologically adept and business-savvy - but its benefits to less-skilled Americans have been less apparent.

In fact, the New Economy has sharpened the divide between "haves" and "have-nots" in the US, further concentrating wealth in relatively few hands. How is this ongoing reconcentration of wealth reshaping our political, intellectual, and economic priorities? What domestic and global concerns does such… more

**THIS EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. WE APOLOGIZE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE.**

What is the role of the central bank and sound monetary policy in the process of nation-building? How should the international community respond to the economic challenges of failed states? Is it possible to rebuild the economies of societies devastated by war? Please join the New America Foundation for a fascinating discussion with one of the world’s leading authorities on monetary policy, Dr. Warren Coats.