CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF WORLD WAR I

by ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1972

World War I has long been recognized as a watershed in U.S. development and, beginning with the writings of Woodrow Wilson himself (he was, after all a professor), the American historical establishment has engaged in continuous debate over the war's impact on both foreign and domestic policy. Cooper (History, Univ. of Wisconsin) introduces this collection of recent monographs with a valuable historiographic essay evaluating the contributions of Kennan, Morgenthau, Lippmann, William Appleton Williams, et al., and noting that the focus has lately shifted from diplomacy -- the reasons for American intervention, the Versailles Treaty, The League -- to the home front. Cooper's editing reflects this bias. An excellent essay by Charles Chatfield probes the effect of the war on the American pacifist tradition. Stanley Coben takes an incisive look at the nativist upsurge and the 1919-20 Red Scare as a ""high-water mark of hysteria and wholesale violation of civil liberties."" And Allen F. Davis disputes the orthodox position that the war was the nemesis of social and economic reform for the duration. Most of the contributions are from younger historians; a number first appeared in the Journal of American History. Overall the collection is more cautious than contentious with minor rather than major reassessments offered. Graduate students will be the prime audience -- most general readers will be dissuaded by the boondoggling footnotes which sometimes take up more space than the articles themselves. Utilitarian.

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1972

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Quadrangle

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1972

Categories: NONFICTION