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Title: Over Here: The First World War and American Society by David M. Kennedy ISBN: 0-19-503209-8 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: September, 1982 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.7 (10 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: An Important Addition to Any Reader's Collection
Comment: Kennedy's masterful look at World War I society in America proves to rank among the best accounts of the early twentieth century. He covers those who joined the war effort, the war effort at home and abroad, and the various issues relative to the Wilson Administration in terms of effectiveness and quality with a certain sophisticated nature that makes this work a must-have for undergraduate and/or graduate level U.S. history classes. Kennedy's obvious strengths are evident in his coverage of war and the Wilson administration yet it must be noted that his lack of bias must also be taken as a strength.
Rating: 4
Summary: Not like Freedom From Fear
Comment: I so enjoyed Kennedy's Freedom From Fear that when I saw this book I wanted to read it. But it is not nearly as "popular" a work as Freedom from Fear. Two or three chapters are hard to get interested in, I thought. He does talk about the AEF's time in Europe, and seems much more deprecating toward it than is usual from American authors. For instance, The Defeat of Imperial Germany 1917-1918 by Rod Paschall, while it may over-emphasize the role of the AEF, is, I think a needed corrective to Kennedy's down-playing of the American role in World War One.
As the books Kennedy relies on have made clear (e.g., Opponents of War 1917-1918, by H. C. Peterson and Gilbert C. Fite), the record of the Wilson Administration in the field of civil liberties in wartime to a present-day viewer is sobering, the legal system seemingly surrendering to the war hysteria (as some today seem to again urge it do). The book also has an insightful discussion of the contrast between American writing about the war compared to the more pessimistic view of men who were more sated by their longer involvment in the hell which was the Western front. Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of interesting stuff in this book--it is just that some chapters may not be overly exciting to a non-economist, for instance.
Rating: 5
Summary: The "Disillusionment" of Progressives
Comment: "Over Here" is an important and clearly-written work in a much-neglected area of historical inquiry--the homefront during time of war in foreign lands. It provides a nice supplement to the classic accounts of WWI that focus more on the battlefields, like Barabara Tuchman's "The Guns of August."
Over Here describes the unthinkable degree of xenophobia and repression of dissent that the Wilson administration, particularly Postmaster General Albert Sidney Burleson and Attorney General Thomas W. Gregory, directed and encouraged, and recounts horrible tales, such as the Prager and Goddard incidents, that should live on forever as warnings against future state support of vigilantism and "100 Percent Americanism." This is especially relevant these days in light of Attorney General Ashcroft's war on civil liberties and the revival of the evil specter of 100 Percent Americanism by the famous xenophobe Pat Buchanan. While today's assaults on liberty are not yet nearly as dastardly as those during WWI, Over Here's historical record serves as a clear warning against repeating past errors and a stunning indictment of the enemies of open society, past and present.
The book also stands as a caution against the dangers of concentrated government power, particularly during wartime, and of excessive and naïve confidence in the capacity of the government to do good. It confirms the Libertarian Harry Browne's warning: "Beware of politicians with good intentions."
President Wilson was a Progressive former professor who came to office with optimistic views on improving the lot of the common man by expanding the role of government in domestic affairs and actively promoting peace in the world. Early in his administration, Wilson's words inspired hope in socialists and other leftists around the world. It is particularly credible, therefore, when a fellow progressive/liberal academic like Professor Kennedy describes how, in practice, Wilson did not have the courage of his convictions and some of his ideas turned out not to work as well in the real world as they did in the lecture halls of academia. His behavior as President was characterized by trepidation and cowardice. Instead of prosperity and harmony at home and peace and unity in the world, fledgling labor unions and leftist dissent were ruthlessly crushed at home and the world remained bitterly divided after the end of a brutal and demoralizing war. Instead of progress for workers and a "war to end all wars," the international left was disillusioned and the seeds were sown for a second, more devastating war to come.
Over Here is a great work of scholarship that is also eminently readable and concise, so that both the historian and the layperson should enjoy it immensely. Despite the author's progressive slant, he applies a light touch in the book that should make it palatable for most conservatives, largely leaving the reader to make one's own conclusions, though the case is made sufficiently strongly that the conclusions are nearly inevitable. The author does eloquently summarize his case on the book jacket, saying the book is "in many ways a sad story, a tale of death, broken hopes, frustrated dreams, and of the curious defeat-in-victory that was Woodrow Wilson's and the nation's, bitter lot." This book well earned its recognition as a Pulitzer Prize Finalist.
"This is a war to end all wars." --Woodrow Wilson
"Only the dead have seen the end of war." --George Santayana's counter to Wilson's quote
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Title: The Perils of Prosperity 1914-1932 (Chicago History of American Civilization) by William E. Leuchtenburg, Daniel J. Boorstin ISBN: 0226473716 Publisher: University of Chicago Press Pub. Date: September, 1993 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945 (Oxford History of the United States, Vol 9) by David M. Kennedy ISBN: 0195144031 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: April, 2001 List Price(USD): $22.50 |
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Title: The Modern Temper : American Culture and Society in the 1920s by Lynn Dumenil ISBN: 0809015668 Publisher: Hill & Wang Pub Pub. Date: 30 June, 1995 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Pivotal Decades: The United States, 1900-1920 by John Milton Cooper, John J. Cooper ISBN: 0393956555 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: August, 1992 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: The Search for Order, 1877-1920 by Robert H. Wiebe ISBN: 0809001047 Publisher: Hill & Wang Pub Pub. Date: 01 January, 1966 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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