Dr. Hugh Liebert Professor of American Politics Hugh.Liebert@westpoint.edu Biography Dr. Hugh Liebert is a Professor of American Politics in the Department of Social Sciences at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York, where he teaches courses in political philosophy, American politics, and civil-military relations. He also serves as Director of West Point’s Graduate Scholarship Program. Liebert is the author or editor of seven books, including Gibbon’s Christianity and Plutarch’s Politics, which won the Delba Winthrop Award for Excellence in Political Science. He holds a Ph.D. and M.A. from the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago and a BA from Harvard University. Ongoing Research Projects Gibbon’s Christianity: Religion, Reason, and the Fall of Rome. For all of Edward Gibbon’s skepticism regarding Christianity's central doctrines, the "infidel historian" was an astute psychologist of religion, concerned not merely to oppose Christianity, but to confront it as a philosophical and historical puzzle. Gibbon's Christianity tallies the results and conditions of that confrontation. Approaching the Decline and Fall from the context surrounding its conception allows us to appreciate how Gibbon adapted explanations of the Roman republic’s rise to a new spiritual republic. Publications & Presentations Books: Gibbon’s Christianity: Religion, Reason, and the Fall of Rome. University Park, PA: Penn State University Press, 2022. Plutarch’s Politics: Between City and Empire. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2016. Confronting Inequality: Wealth, Rights, and Power. Edited with T. Sherlock and C. Pinheiro. New York: Sloan, 2016. What Is the Worst That Can Happen? The Politics and Policy of Crisis Management. Edited with T. Sherlock, and J. Morrow. New York: Sloan, 2016. Thinking Beyond Boundaries: Transnational Challenges to U.S. Foreign Policy. Edited with J. Griswold and I. Wilson. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014. American Grand Strategy and the Future of U.S. Land Power. Edited with J. Da Silva and I. Wilson. Carlisle, PA: U.S. Army War College Press, 2014. Executive Power in Theory and Practice. Edited with G. McDowell and T. Price. Jepson Studies in Leadership Series. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. Articles and Chapters: “The Utility of Janowitz’s Political Awareness in Officer Education” (with S. Nielsen), Armed Forces & Society (October 2021). “The Continuing Relevance of Morris Janowitz’s The Professional Soldier for the Education of Officers” (with S. Nielsen), Armed Forces & Society 47, no. 4 (September 2021): 732-49. “Keeping Norms Normal: Ancient Perspectives on Norms in Civil-Military Relations” (with J. Golby), Texas National Security Review 4, Issue 2 (Spring 2021): 75-96. “Minding Gibbon’s Manners: Unwritten Rules and Rhetoric of Equality.” In Equality – More or Less, eds. R. Tully and Bruce Chilton. Lanham, MD: Hamilton Books, 2020. “National Service and the All-Volunteer Force” (with J. Golby), Armed Forces & Society 44, no. 1 (2018): 186-92. “Mid-Life Crisis? The AVF at Forty” (with J. Golby), Armed Forces & Society 43, no. 1 (2017): 115-38. “The Achaean League and the American Founding,” History of Political Thought 37 (2016): 57-77. “Does Inequality Matter?” In Confronting Inequality: Wealth, Rights, and Power, eds. H. Liebert, T. Sherlock, and C. Pinheiro. New York: Sloan, 2016. “Of Populations and Power: Demography, the Rise of the BRICs, and U.S. National Security” (with R. Parker). In Confronting Inequality: Wealth, Rights, and Power, eds. H. Liebert, T. Sherlock, and C. Pinheiro. New York: Sloan, 2016. “The Fukushiman Future: Environmental Catastrophe and the Limits of National Power” (with A. Spikol). In What is the Worst That Can Happen? The Politics and Policy of Crisis Management, eds. H. Liebert, T. Sherlock, and J. Morrow. New York: Sloan, 2016. “What is the Worst?” In What is the Worst That Can Happen? The Politics and Policy of Crisis Management, eds. H. Liebert, T. Sherlock, and J. Morrow. Cornwall-on-Hudson, NY: Sloan, 2016. “Disorder at the Border? Federalism and the Challenge of Homeland Security” (with L. Robinson). In Thinking Beyond Boundaries: Transnational Challenges to U.S. Foreign Policy, eds. H. Liebert, J. Golby, and I. Wilson. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014. “E Pluribus Unum? Cities, States, and Foreign Policy.” In Thinking Beyond Boundaries: Transnational Challenges to U.S. Foreign Policy, eds. H. Liebert, J. Griswold, and I. Wilson. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014. “American Grand Strategy and the Future of U.S. Land Power.” In American Grand Strategy and the Future of U.S. Land Power, eds. J. Da Silva, H. Liebert, and I. Wilson. Carlisle, PA: U.S. Army War College Press, 2014. “Executive Power in Roman Political Thought” (2012). In Executive Power in Theory and Practice, eds. H. Liebert, G. McDowell, and T. Price, 31-54. Jepson Studies in Leadership Series. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. “Alexander the Great and the History of Globalization,” Review of Politics 73 (2011): 533-60. “Plutarch’s Critique of Plato’s Best Regime,” History of Political Thought 30 (2009): 251-71. “Plutarch’s Critique of Plato’s Best Regime,” History of Political Thought 30 (2009): 251-71. Literary Journalism: “Machiavelli the Moderate.” Claremont Review of Books 18, no. 4 (Fall 2018): 52-4. “From Cicero to Trump. They’re All in Plutarch’s ‘Lives.’” The Wall Street Journal, September 2-3, 2017, A13. “It Ain’t Got That Swing.” First Things, March 2001 Selected Conference Presentations: “Edward Gibbon and the Rise of Christianity.” Paper presented at History of Political Thought Consortium via Zoom, March 2021. “Edward Gibbon, State Power, and the Rise of China.” With John Childress. Lecture at Cornell University via Zoom, March 2021. “The Continuing Relevance of The Professional Soldier for the Education of Officers.” With Suzanne Nielsen. Paper presented at 2017 Inter-University Seminar Annual Conference. “An Introduction to the Political Philosophy of Plutarch.” Paper presented at Harvard Government Department Political Theory Colloquium, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, March 2016, and Boston College Political Science Department, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, April 2016. “Civil-Military Relations and Political Philosophy.” Paper presented at 2016 McCain Conference, U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD. "Is There A World Elsewhere? The Soldier, the State, and Some Versions of Coriolanus." 2014 Frank C. Colcord Lecture, Tufts University, Cambridge, MA. “The Achaean League and the American Founding.” Paper presented at 2013 American Political Science Association Annual Convention.