Todd Brewster is one of America 's pre-eminent journalists. An award-winning editorial producer for ABC News and a longtime writer for Time and Life, Brewster is co-author with Peter Jennings of two best selling books, "In Search of America" (2002) and the #1 New York Times bestseller "The Century" (1998). Todd has served as Knight Fellow at Yale Law School, taught political science and constitutional law as a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Wesleyan University and is currently the new director of the Center for Oral History at the United States Military Academy at West Point. He is also director of the Peter Jennings Project for Journalists and the Constitution, an annual event at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. He is co-founder of "We... The Connecticut Project for the Constitution," an organization dedicated to raising awareness of constitutional issues.

Terrorism, War, and Civil Liberties

For college programs, this lecture is offered as the introduction to 'Conversations About War & Peace', a lecture/discussion hosted by Todd Brewster with participating members of faculty.

Long before the abuse of prisoners at Abu Graib prison, Todd Brewster was examining the threat that America 's new war on terrorism posed for the protection of civil liberties at home and abroad. Now he offers a dynamic and topical lecture program analyzing one of the more difficult issues of our time: how to balance the need for national security with a respect for the law and international standards of justice.

Just about every major American war has resulted in a (usually regrettable) abridgement of civil liberties at home. Think of the internment of Japanese-Americans after Pearl Harbor or the imprisonment of those who spoke out against the draft during World War I, the suspension of habeas corpus during the Civil War, and the 1789 sedition acts which compromised free speech during the tensions with France in the John Adams administration.

The war on terrorism, however, has posed a whole new level of challenge to civil libertarians. Much of the discussion centers on whether terrorism is a crime or an act of war. If it is a crime, then it would follow that those suspected of terrorism would be guaranteed the Constitutional protections of the accused. But if it is an act of war, just what sort of "act of war" does terrorism represent? The Bush administration asserts that it is indeed an "act of war" and, beyond that, an "unlawful" act of war, thereby releasing the US from observing basic protections outlined in the Geneva Accords and international law.

The whole subject has been muddied by one of the central predicaments of our time: for unlike the past, today the greatest threat to peace comes not from belligerent states led by identifiable authorities whose conduct would be circumscribed by the rules of war, but from belligerent sub-national and multi-national organizations like Al Qeada and Hezbollah not to mention solo actors. Several hundred suspected terrorists are being held by the United States at the American naval base at Guantanamo Bay , Cuba . There are several cases of Americans accused of terrorism wending their way through the civil courts. Just how should Americans expect their government to treat such detainees? That is the central question explored in this very timely and important lecture which Brewster offers as either a stand-alone presentation, illustrated by slides, or as part of "Conversations About War and Peace", a wider program incorporating a panel discussion that includes members of the host school's faculty on stage in a dialogue over this important issue.

Brewster explains the history of American behavior toward the accused during wartime, outlines the ways that this history sheds light on today's situation and also the very important ways in which history offers no guide.

In Search of America has been described by reviewers as an "unforgettable journey" and a remarkable contribution to the national spirit. Ken Burns praised it as a "wonderful" book, demonstrating the "best kind of patriotism, the constructive kind."

When it was published in late 1998, The Century was hailed by Time magazine as "a richly satisfying chronicle." Kirkus Reviews described the book as the best available summary of the century. The book spent 45 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, and to date has sold more than 1.6 million copies, more than any book in its class and price category in publishing history. "The Century" television series, which aired on ABC and the History Channel, was recognized by the Overseas Press Club with The Edward R. Murrow Award for Best TV Interpretation or Documentary. The series was also nominated for an Emmy Award for best news documentary of 1999. 

THE NEXT CENTURY: Lessons from the Last
A Lecture/Slide Program

What can we learn from the transformative events of the last hundred years? What do they tell us about the path we are taking to our future? Plenty, argues Todd Brewster in this illustrated lecture.

Highlighting his presentation with 60 slides selected from over 600 images used in his landmark book, Brewster captures the spirit of this tumultuous time in a visually dramatic fashion and calls from his extensive research to raise the questions we should be asking as society moves toward the years ahead:

• Citing the history of the automobile, the radio, and the television, Brewster demonstrates how technology often fools us with unanticipated consequences, both good and bad.
• Remembering the erratic story of the American economy throughout the 1900s, Brewster gives context to our present run of prosperity.
• Noting that the last century began in a utopian spirit of "globalization" and free trade which was then shattered by an act of terrorism, as shocking to its time as September 11 th has been to ours, and the subsequent outbreak of World War I, Brewster cautions that there are lessons from history to guide us in the challenge now posed to the West from Islamic extremism.

What did we lose in the last hundred years? What did we gain? What moral challenges did the twentieth century leave for the twenty-first? Brewster addresses these questions in a way that will prompt the kind of thinking that we all must now undertake as we challenge ourselves to create a better future.

"The Next Century" lecture/slide program is also available with an emphasis on leadership, technology or the arts.

IN SEARCH OF AMERICA
A Lecture/Slide Program

More than 3000 people died on September 11 for one simple reason: they were Americans. In this provocative new lecture program, Todd Brewster, co-author with Peter Jennings of the best-selling books "In Search of America" and "The Century," offers a fascinating approach to understanding the American identity, both as it is expressed to the world today and as it has been expressed for over 225 years. Brewster shows that Americans are unique among the world's peoples because they alone have constructed a national character around freedom and he demonstrates how the great strengths of the American identity - industrial, religious, entrepreneurial, artistic and societal - flow from the nation's founding ideals.

In their journey "In Search of America" Brewster and Jennings discovered that Americans may rarely recite the words of Jefferson and Madison, Franklin and Adams, Madison and Hamilton, but they nonetheless live lives that are genuine expressions of the principles the nation was founded upon. Using video and slides and recalling the stories of ordinary Americans who appear in his book, Brewster offers a message that is both healing and informative and one that gives substance to author James Baldwin's reflection that "history does not refer merely or even principally to the past. The great force of history comes from the fact that we carry it within us."

'CONVERSATIONS ABOUT WAR AND PEACE'

A Lecture-Discussion Hosted by Best-Selling Author and Popular Historian Todd Brewster

'Conversations About War and Peace' is an exciting lecture event with an unusual new interactive program format involving the participation of two or three campus faculty members and hosted by best-selling author/journalist Todd Brewster. The framework for the program is presented by Brewster in a brief introduction, followed by a discussion with selected members of the host college's faculty. Brewster will work in advance with campus sponsors to identify appropriate faculty participants.

This is not a panel discussion. This is not a debate. As the title suggests, the program is a conversation. The aim is not to have the various sides of any issue "argue it out," but instead - in the interest of wisdom - to allow Brewster and two or three eminent professors, chosen by the speaker in concert with the sponsoring university, to mine this very important territory for insight. Todd Brewster will present the historical and political framework for the discussion in a brief introduction to be followed by the discussion which he will facilitate, followed by an audience question and answer session.