Moderated by Andrés Martinez, Los Angeles Times Editorial Page Editor

Niall Ferguson courts controversy. One of the most brilliant economic and military historians of his generation, the British Harvard professor and L.A. Times columnist has written books comparing the “per kill” cost of World War I armies, and praising the British empire. Ferguson’s The Pity of War was a sensation in Britain for its assertion that the country would have been better off staying out of World War I. A prolific contributor to such publications as Time and The New Yorker and author of several books–including the recently published The War of the World–Ferguson visits Zócalo to discuss everything from Günter Grass’s past to the amateurish American empire.