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The moralist : Woodrow Wilson and the world he made / by Patricia O'Toole.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Simon & Schuster, 2018Copyright date: ©2018Edition: First Simon & Schuster hardcover editionDescription: xviii, 636 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, portraits, maps ; 25 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780743298094
  • 0743298098
  • 9780743298100
  • 0743298101
Other title:
  • Woodrow Wilson and the world he made
Subject(s): Genre/Form:
Contents:
Son of the South -- When a man comes to himself -- Ascent -- Against all odds -- A new freedom -- A president begins -- Lines of accommodation -- Our detached and distant situation -- Moral force -- A psychological moment -- Departures -- The general wreck -- At sea -- Moonshine -- Strict accountability -- Haven -- Dodging trouble -- The world is on fire -- Stumbling in the dark -- The mystic influence of the stars and stripes -- By a whisker -- Verge of war -- Decision -- The associate -- The right men -- One white-hot mass instinct -- Over here, over there -- So many problems per diem -- Defiance -- Final triumph -- Storm warning -- The fog of peace -- Settling the accounts -- Stroking the cat the wrong way -- Paralyzed -- Altogether an unfortunate mess -- Breaking the heart of the world -- Best of the second-raters -- Swimming upstream -- Epilogue.
Summary: "By the author of acclaimed biographies of Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Adams, a penetrating biography of one of the most high-minded, consequential, and controversial US presidents, Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924). The Moralist is a cautionary tale about the perils of moral vanity and American overreach in foreign affairs."--Provided by publisher.Summary: "President from 1913 to 1921, Wilson set a high bar for himself and the country. No president believed more fervently in the primacy of morality in politics or the 'moral force' of ideas. [This book] measures Wilson by his own standards while recounting his unprecedented success as an economic reformer, his grand vision for a peaceful world order, his moral blind spots (on race, women's suffrage, and free speech in wartime), and a final defeat that was largely self-inflicted. The Moralist is a cautionary tale about moral vanity and the limitations of leadership that strays too far from political realities. But it is also a tale of the enduring power of high ideals. Despite Wilson's missteps, his searching moral questions--about the role of a government in the lives of its people and about the duty of the United States to the larger world--transformed the economy and revolutionized international relations. Wilson's ideas remained at the heart of American political debate for the rest of the twentieth century. The challenges of the twenty-first require many answers that Wilson could not have supplied, but his central moral question--What is the right thing for a government to do?--is as relevant, and as urgent, as ever."--Dust jacket.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library Biography Wilson, W. O88 Available 33111009183191
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

"Lucid and elegant...On Wilson's tortured entrance into World War I, [O'Toole] is truly superb...As a study of Wilson's relationship with Europe, and the intrigues of his foreign policy administration, the book is exemplary."-- The New York Times

"O'Toole does full justice to Wilson's complexities, but it is with the coming of the war that her narrative takes on something close to Shakespearean dimensions...scrupulously balanced...elegantly crafted."-- The Wall Street Journal

"Enlightening...O'Toole has done students of American history a great service."-- National Review

By the author of acclaimed biographies of Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Adams, a penetrating biography of one of the most high-minded, consequential, and controversial US presidents, Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924). The Moralist is a cautionary tale about the perils of moral vanity and American overreach in foreign affairs.

In domestic affairs, Wilson was a progressive who enjoyed unprecedented success in leveling the economic playing field, but he was behind the times on racial equality and women's suffrage. As a Southern boy during the Civil War, he knew the ravages of war, and as president he refused to lead the country into World War I until he was convinced that Germany posed a direct threat to the United States.

Once committed, he was an admirable commander-in-chief, yet he also presided over the harshest suppression of political dissent in American history.

After the war Wilson became the world's most ardent champion of liberal internationalism--a democratic new world order committed to peace, collective security, and free trade. With Wilson's leadership, the governments at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 founded the League of Nations, a federation of the world's democracies. The creation of the League, Wilson's last great triumph, was quickly followed by two crushing blows: a paralyzing stroke and the rejection of the treaty that would have allowed the United States to join the League.

After a backlash against internationalism in the 1920s and 1930s, Wilson's liberal internationalism was revived by Franklin D. Roosevelt and it has shaped American foreign relations--for better and worse--ever since.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [499]-597) and index.

Son of the South -- When a man comes to himself -- Ascent -- Against all odds -- A new freedom -- A president begins -- Lines of accommodation -- Our detached and distant situation -- Moral force -- A psychological moment -- Departures -- The general wreck -- At sea -- Moonshine -- Strict accountability -- Haven -- Dodging trouble -- The world is on fire -- Stumbling in the dark -- The mystic influence of the stars and stripes -- By a whisker -- Verge of war -- Decision -- The associate -- The right men -- One white-hot mass instinct -- Over here, over there -- So many problems per diem -- Defiance -- Final triumph -- Storm warning -- The fog of peace -- Settling the accounts -- Stroking the cat the wrong way -- Paralyzed -- Altogether an unfortunate mess -- Breaking the heart of the world -- Best of the second-raters -- Swimming upstream -- Epilogue.

"By the author of acclaimed biographies of Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Adams, a penetrating biography of one of the most high-minded, consequential, and controversial US presidents, Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924). The Moralist is a cautionary tale about the perils of moral vanity and American overreach in foreign affairs."--Provided by publisher.

"President from 1913 to 1921, Wilson set a high bar for himself and the country. No president believed more fervently in the primacy of morality in politics or the 'moral force' of ideas. [This book] measures Wilson by his own standards while recounting his unprecedented success as an economic reformer, his grand vision for a peaceful world order, his moral blind spots (on race, women's suffrage, and free speech in wartime), and a final defeat that was largely self-inflicted. The Moralist is a cautionary tale about moral vanity and the limitations of leadership that strays too far from political realities. But it is also a tale of the enduring power of high ideals. Despite Wilson's missteps, his searching moral questions--about the role of a government in the lives of its people and about the duty of the United States to the larger world--transformed the economy and revolutionized international relations. Wilson's ideas remained at the heart of American political debate for the rest of the twentieth century. The challenges of the twenty-first require many answers that Wilson could not have supplied, but his central moral question--What is the right thing for a government to do?--is as relevant, and as urgent, as ever."--Dust jacket.

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