One of the world’s most distinguished investigative journalists and war reporters, Mark Danner, will appear in conversation with US Studies Centre chief executive Professor Geoffrey Garrett at the University of Sydney on Thursday 25 February.

As part of the University’s Sydney Ideas lecture series, Danner will reflect on the history of American interventions abroad in the past thirty years and discuss challenges facing the Obama administration from the war in Afghanistan to closing the Guantanamo Bay detention centre.

Danner has reported and written on foreign affairs, politics and war for over two decades, covering such trouble spots as El Salvador, Haiti, Bosnia and most recently Iraq. His new book is Stripping Bare the Body: Politics, Violence, War.

He was also for many years a staff writer at The New Yorker and his previous books include The Secret Way to War, and The Massacre at El Mozote, which was chosen by The New York Times as a Notable Book of the Year. Danner’s work has been honoured with a US National Magazine award, three Overseas Press Awards and an Emmy.

Professor Garrett said the Centre is always pleased to work with Sydney Ideas, the University’s premier public lecture program. “We aim to engage with the public about America’s role in the world. This free campus event is a great chance for an audience to hear from a leading reporter who has been on the frontline of American conflicts around the world,” he said.

“Mark Danner’s first class reporting over several decades has consistently shed new light on often hidden aspects of American interventions in other countries,” Professor Garrett added.