Dr. Jennifer Keene: World War I and the Dawning of the American Century

Dr. Jennifer Keene
Professor of history and chair of the History Department at Chapman University

ABSTRACT

“Making the World Safe for Democracy: World War I and the Dawning of the American Century”

Most Americans possess only a hazy understanding of World War I, but the legacy of the conflict extends beyond the failure of the United States to ratify the Treaty of Versailles. Through humanitarianism, nation-building, and armed self-defense, the United States forged new ways to engage with the world. The war presented challenges and opportunities for liberal democracy, and how Americans responded shaped the world in which we live.

BIOGRAPHY

Jennifer D. Keene is a professor of history and chair of the History Department at Chapman University. She is also the current President of the Society of Military History. She has published three books and numerous articles on the American involvement in the First World War including Doughboys, the Great War and the Remaking of America (2001), World War I: The American Soldier Experience (2011), and The United States and the First World War (2000). In addition, she is the lead author for an American history textbook, Visions of America: A History of the United States that uses a visual approach to teaching students U.S. history.

She has received numerous awards for her scholarship, including Fulbright Senior Scholar Awards to France and Australia and Mellon Library of Congress Fellowship in International Studies. She has served as an historical consultant for exhibits and films, and was recently featured in the PBS documentary mini-series, The Great War. She is also a general editor for the peer-reviewed online encyclopedia, http://www.1914-1918-online.net/,  a major digital humanities project.