In The Surge: A Military History (Encounter Books, 2009), president of the Institute for the Study of War Kimberly Kagan offers a detailed analysis of U.S.-led counterinsurgency operations in Iraq during 2007 and 2008. The book provides readers with a thorough understanding of how the operations, widely known as "the surge," dramatically brought Iraq away from the tragedy of civil war. The author closely followed the Coalition operations in 2007 and 2008, both on the ground in Iraq and from within the academic and foreign policy community in Washington, D.C. According to Brendan Simms of the Wall Street Journal, her book "is essential reading for anyone who wants to know how Iraq was saved from the brink of disaster."

At this book forum, Ms. Kagan will discuss the various elements of the surge and how they were implemented in order to reestablish security and salvage critical American interests in the region. She will be joined by Kenneth M. Pollack, senior fellow and director of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, to discuss the content of her book and the implications of her research on modern counterinsurgency doctrine.