Discussion with Fred Kaplan and his new book: “Daydream Believers – How a Few Grand Ideas Wrecked American Power”

The Center for a New American Security (CNAS) hosted a lunchtime speech with celebrated Slate columnist Fred Kaplan on February 29, 2008 at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC.  Mr. Kaplan led a discussion on his new book, “Daydream Believers: How a Few Grand Ideas Wrecked American Power.”  Derek Chollet, a Senior Fellow at CNAS, addressed and analyzed Fred’s assessment of  the next administration, Republican or Democrat, and what they are likely to inherit on January 20, 2009.   

Fred Kaplan writes the "War Stories" column in Slate. Prior to this, Kaplan was a correspondent at the Boston Globe, reporting from Washington, D.C., Moscow, and New York City. He was a member of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize for a special Sunday Boston Globe Magazine on the U.S.-Soviet nuclear arms race.  He authored the classic book, The Wizards of Armageddon, which won The Washington Monthly Political Book of the Year award.  Fred Kaplan has written for The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, The Atlantic Monthly, and other publications.  He earned a Ph.D. in political science from MIT and worked on Capitol Hill as a foreign and defense policy advisor to Congressman Les Aspin.  He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, NPR journalist Brooke Gladstone.