The subject of this book is the confrontation between the American reform tradition, historically inward-looking, and the first of the world conflicts in which the United States has been involved in the twentieth century. It focuses upon those writers and journals most prominently associated with ?the progressive movement? and examines their response to the First World War and the effect of the war on their thinking. During ?the progressive era? a number of journalists and authors had acquired national reputations as social critics or as spokesmen for reform. This thoroughly researched...

Most famous in Europe for his efforts to establish the League of Nations under US leadership at the end of the World War I, Woodrow Wilson stands as one of America's most influential and visionary presidents. A Democrat who pursued progressive domestic policies during his first term in office, he despised European colonialism and believed that the recipe for world peace was the self-determination of all peoples, particularly those under the yoke of the vast Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian Empires. His efforts to resist heavy reparations on Germany fell on deaf ears, while the refusal of France,...