Woodrow Wilson and the Great War: Reconsidering America's Neutrality, 1914-1917

Those who would increase and consolidate power in the presidency often invoke the wartime administration of Wilson. However, Tucker (American diplomacy emeritus, Johns Hopkins U.) points out that this does not consider the long period of neutrality before the Great War in which Wilson's motivations and actions were much more complex than mere snatches at power. Tucker carefully builds the contexts under which Wilson operated, including the highly qualified version of his internationalism, and the extensive consequences to foreign policy. He maintains World War I was the last war in which such internationalism and its significant element of neutrality would apply; further, Wilson's focus on law and diplomacy forced him to view the resulting violence as utterly meaningless. This is a rigorous and elegant work that speaks directly to the true nature of US intervention beyond its own borders. Annotation c2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Robert W. Tucker is Professor Emeritus of American Diplomacy at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University.