Woodrow Wilson led America into the First World War in 1917. Historians have debated his methods and motives ever since. This volume explores Wilson's complex personality and the immense challenges he faced. Through quotes and vivid examples, the reader sees America and the world in a time when it seemed everything might come apart. Wilson is central to the story, but the reader also experiences the leading generals and the common soldier as well as the "Big Four," the men who redrew the maps when the war ended.

Publisher description

Woodrow Wilson's presidential administration (1913-1921) was marked not only by America's participation in World War I, but also by numerous armed interventions by the United States in other countries. Spanning the globe, these actions included the years-long occupations of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, a border war with Mexico, and the use of Marines guarding American citizens during unrest in Chinese cities. Author Mark Benbow examines what these American policy decisions and military adventures reveal of Wilson as commander-in-chief, and the powers and duties of the office. Wilson tended to let his cabinet officials operate their own departments as they wished as long as their actions did not contradict his overall policies. However, as regards foreign policy, Wilson took an active role overseeing American diplomats. His policy toward the military followed a similar pattern, though sometimes military commanders' actions. affected Wilson's diplomatic goals. Benbow focuses on those conflicts between military reality, the pragmatic needs of policy, and the larger goals of crafting a lasting foreign policy.

Babbits and Bohemians is a fresh and informed account of the 1920s, a decade that seems almost mythical to some. Stevenson finds that the true twenties was a society of contrast. On the one hand, it was an era of sameness and political conformity, but on the other hand, it was also a time of cultural revolt. In places labeled Main Street and Middletown, the citizenry followed a conventional pattern. At the same time, while most of America enjoyed the good life of this period, bohemians in Greenwich Village and expatriates in Paris were fervently scornful of it.