An interesting look at America’s claims about World War I, the truth and folly therein, and the unfinished work they left...
Wawro (History/Univ. of North Texas; A Mad Catastrophe: The Outbreak of World War I and the Collapse of the Habsburg Empire, 2014, etc.) takes a deeper look at the American soldiers who rescued Europe in 1918.
Many historians believe that World War I wasn’t really won; it was just interrupted until 1936, when it roared back to life. As forewarned in 1919, without an American presence in Europe, Germany would take over Europe’s coastline and prevent another rescue. In 1918, the French, Italians, and English were running out of manpower. The French army was down to old men and teenagers, and their credit was exhausted. They were desperate for soldiers as a strategical reserve against Germany—and America could provide soldiers. When Gen. John Pershing finally brought the Doughboys to Europe, they were untrained and ignorant of modern trench warfare, and they lacked the necessary equipment. They arrived without engineers, signalers, tanks, artillery, machine guns, or planes—all to be shipped later. Pershing swore that America would not serve except under his leadership, but his army was ineffective. He did release a dozen battalions of “colored” soldiers to the French; they were fully incorporated as combat troops and highly praised. Eventually, he agreed to help the Allies, but not too much. The first American battle took place at Cantigny in May 1918, a full year after the U.S. declared war. German Gen. Erich Ludendorff knew the American army could tip the scales, and he did all in his power to finish off the Allies before their arrival. Unfortunately for the Americans, the artillery was late, and the tanks, even with George Patton in charge, were still too new and unreliable. Still, as Wawro ably demonstrates, the American reserves were crucial to the war’s outcome: “The Doughboys won the war by surrounding the German army in France and Belgium and compelling its surrender.”
An interesting look at America’s claims about World War I, the truth and folly therein, and the unfinished work they left behind after the armistice was (eventually) signed.Pub Date: Sept. 25, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-465-09391-5
Page Count: 624
Publisher: Basic Books
Review Posted Online: June 17, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
A timely contribution to the discussion of a crucial issue.
A history of the right to vote in America.
Since the nation’s founding, many Americans have been uneasy about democracy. Law and policy expert Waldman (The Second Amendment: A Biography, 2014, etc.), president of New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice, offers a compelling—and disheartening—history of voting in America, from provisions of the Constitution to current debates about voting rights and campaign financing. In the Colonies, only white male property holders could vote and did so in public, by voice. With bribery and intimidation rampant, few made the effort. After the Revolution, many states eliminated property requirements so that men over 21 who had served in the militia could vote. But leaving voting rules to the states disturbed some lawmakers, inciting a clash between those who wanted to restrict voting and those “who sought greater democracy.” That clash fueled future debates about allowing freed slaves, immigrants, and, eventually, women to vote. In 1878, one leading intellectual railed against universal suffrage, fearing rule by “an ignorant proletariat and a half-taught plutocracy.” Voting corruption persisted in the 19th century, when adoption of the secret ballot “made it easier to stuff the ballot box” by adding “as many new votes as proved necessary.” Southern states enacted disenfranchising measures, undermining the 15th Amendment. Waldman traces the campaign for women’s suffrage; the Supreme Court’s dismal record on voting issues (including Citizens United); and the contentious fight to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which “became a touchstone of consensus between Democrats and Republicans” and was reauthorized four times before the Supreme Court “eviscerated it in 2013.” Despite increased access to voting, over the years, turnout has fallen precipitously, and “entrenched groups, fearing change, have…tried to reduce the opportunity for political participation and power.” Waldman urges citizens to find a way to celebrate democracy and reinvigorate political engagement for all.
A timely contribution to the discussion of a crucial issue.Pub Date: Feb. 23, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5011-1648-3
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Nov. 28, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2015
Thus the second most costly war in American history, whose “outcome seemed little short of a miracle.” A sterling account.
A master storyteller’s character-driven account of a storied year in the American Revolution.
Against world systems, economic determinist and other external-cause schools of historical thought, McCullough (John Adams, 2001, etc.) has an old-fashioned fondness for the great- (and not-so-great) man tradition, which may not have much explanatory power but almost always yields better-written books. McCullough opens with a courteous nod to the customary villain in the story of American independence, George III, who turns out to be a pleasant and artistically inclined fellow who relied on poor advice; his Westmoreland, for instance, was a British general named Grant who boasted that with 5,000 soldiers he “could march from one end of the American continent to the other.” Other British officers agitated for peace, even as George wondered why Americans would not understand that to be a British subject was to be free by definition. Against these men stood arrayed a rebel army that was, at the least, unimpressive; McCullough observes that New Englanders, for instance, considered washing clothes to be women’s work and so wore filthy clothes until they rotted, with the result that Burgoyne and company had a point in thinking the Continentals a bunch of ragamuffins. The Americans’ military fortunes were none too good for much of 1776, the year of the Declaration; at the slowly unfolding battle for control over New York, George Washington was moved to despair at the sight of sometimes drunk soldiers running from the enemy and of their officers “who, instead of attending to their duty, had stood gazing like bumpkins” at the spectacle. For a man such as Washington, to be a laughingstock was the supreme insult, but the British were driven by other motives than to irritate the general—not least of them reluctance to give up a rich, fertile and beautiful land that, McCullough notes, was providing the world’s highest standard of living in 1776.
Thus the second most costly war in American history, whose “outcome seemed little short of a miracle.” A sterling account.Pub Date: June 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-7432-2671-2
Page Count: 656
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2005
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