To those who loved him, like Teddy Roosevelt, he was "Nicholas Miraculous," the fabled educator who had a hand in everything; to those who did not, like Upton Sinclair, he was "the intellectual leader of the American plutocracy," a champion of "false and cruel ideals." Ezra Pound branded him "one of the more loathsome figures" of the age. Whether celebrated or despised, Nicholas Murray Butler (1862-1947) was undeniably an irresistible force who helped shape American history.

With wit and irony, Michael Rosenthal traces Butler's rise to prominence as president of Columbia University, which...