Woodrow Wilson: Princeton to the Presidency (Hardcover)

by W. Barksdale Maynard (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"A fast-paced, well-conceived, and well-written biographical treatment of Wilson."-James Axtell, College of William and Mary (James Axtell )

"Maynard provides an absorbing account of crucial events in the life of an important American political leader. His book is a significant addition to the literature on Wilson."-Lewis Gould, University of Texas (Lewis Gould )

"Woodrow Wilson''s complex personality shaped his tumultuous tenure as president of Princeton, which propelled him into politics. The radiating consequences of America''s only professor-president still shape American politics and policy. Hence the high value of Barksdale Maynard''s mind-opening study of Wilson''s formative experiences in academia." - George F. Will (George F. Will )

"This poignant biography of the man who coined the phrase `Princeton in the nation's service' shows how much Woodrow Wilson's experiences at Princeton as a student, professor, and president foreshadowed and molded his tragic career as a national and world leader."-James M. McPherson, author of Battle Cry of Freedom (James M. McPherson )

"Maynard provides us with a fascinating account of our 28th President's life from his time as a student, through his tenure as Princeton University's President, and up until the day he died. A superb biography."-Former U.S. Senator Bill Bradley (Bill Bradley )

"Barksdale Maynard has done a masterful job of capturing an untold story of one of America's most interesting, and perhaps, enigmatic, presidents. Woodrow Wilson's formative years at Princeton University served as a training ground for his tumultuous years in the White House. Woodrow Wilson: Princeton to the Presidency is not only a superb piece of research, it will prove to be a page-turner for those who want greater insight to this complex man."-James A. Baker, III, 61st U.S. Secretary of State (James A. Baker, III )

Product Description

Before Woodrow Wilson became president of the United States, he spent 25 years at Princeton University, first as an undergraduate, then professor, and finally as president. His experiences at the helm of Princeton—where he enjoyed four productive years followed by four years of wrangling and intense acrimony—reveal much about the kind of man he was and how he earned a reputation as a fearless crusader. This engrossing book focuses on how Wilson’s Princeton years influenced the ideas and worldview he later applied in politics. His career in the White House, W. Barksdale Maynard shows, repeated with uncanny precision his Princeton experiences.

 

The book recounts how Wilson’s inspired period of building, expansion, and intellectual fervor at Princeton deteriorated into one of the most famous academic disputes in American history. His battle to abolish elitist eating clubs and establish a more egalitarian system culminated in his defeat and dismissal, and the ruthlessness of his tactics alienated even longtime friends. So extreme was his behavior, some historians have wondered whether he suffered a stroke. Maynard sheds new light on this question, on Wilson’s temper, and on other aspects of his strengths and shortcomings. The book provides an unprecedented inside view of a hard-fighting president—a man who tried first to remake a university and then to remake the world.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (September 23, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300136048
• ISBN-13: 978-0300136043
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #102,849 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hard to put down, once you start, February 25, 2009

By	Stuart G. Hibben - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Barksdale Maynard has given us a fresh and riveting account of Wilson's life. It is fascinating to follow his narrative of Wilson's ascendancy in Princeton, and to learn of the fatal flaws in Wilson that doomed his career there and later as U.S. president. Whether one applauds Wilson's actions or deplores them, the fact remains that with his force and vision, this man virtually single-handedly transformed a sleepy college into a major university in a few short years. This was an astounding feat, and surely without parallel in the history of higher education in America.

The account is thoroughly documented and seeks to be even-handed, giving us all sides of the contested issues that Wilson was involved in. The author pieces out his subject with many insights and observations that bring the drama to life; that is the true challenge for the biographer, and Maynard meets it masterfully.

A surprise for this reader was the many negative references to Jack Hibben after his break with Wilson over the Quad plan. Hibben is depicted variously by his critics as a second-rate scholar, dull lecturer, bonehead, etc. For the record, John Grier Hibben in his career at Princeton published widely on philosophy, logic and jurisprudence, among other topics; thirteen of his books are listed in the Library of Congress. This hardly sounds like the work of a bonehead.

Maynard goes into some detail about the men Wilson picked for his presidential cabinet and other high positions, but does not mention William Jennings Bryan, Wilson's controversial first choice for Secretary of State. Bryan may have had sterling qualities, but with his total ignorance of foreign policy he was manifestly unqualified for this position. Given Wilson's emphasis on intellectual rigor, his choice of Bryan seems incomprehensible.

Woodrow Wilson seems to have an endless fascination for biographers, and no doubt others will try their hand. They will be hard put to match Maynard's achievement with this excellent account.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating biography, October 5, 2008

By	David S. Wilcove (Princeton, New Jersey) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In this elegantly written biography, Maynard explores Woodrow Wilson's time at Princeton (as a student, faculty member, and university president), detailing the triumphs and defeats that did so much to shape the future president's personality and perspective. To anyone interested in Woodrow Wilson...or Princeton...or the history of higher education in America for that matter, Maynard's book is indispensable.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Truth about Tommy Wilson, September 1, 2008

By	Dr. Watson - See all my reviews

Dr. Maynard (on the faculty as Lecturer of Johns Hopkins as well as Princeton at the time his book was released) has written one of the more truthful, composite portraits of Woodrow Wilson. It is refreshing to see the depth of research, with references to older historians and Princeton alumni, who verify Wilson as the uncompromising and egotistical college president. The damage that Wilson did to Princeton continues to this day. And not only is it revealed that Wilson and his father were "a good hater" (to quote them both) but his first wife Ellen also had a terrible temper; and there is plenty of evidence.

I was disappointed that the author did not go into Mary Peck's affair with Wilson more thoroughly; he also completely ignored the affair Wilson had with a Princeton professor's wife. Maynard's treatment of Wilson's doctor, Cary Grayson, was too kind; Grayson was a major player with Wilson's second wife, Edith, in the cover-up of Woodrow's almost total incapacity as president, due to his last stroke. Although, because of his art education at Princeton and the University of Delaware, he devoted many interesting pages to the proposed architectural design of the Quads.

Nevertheless, the book is a page-turner. It almost reads like a novel...because in this case, the truth about Wilson seems almost stranger than fiction. This book brings more evidence to light about the truth of Wilson as a racist, a liar, a man who could not compromise, a man with tunnel vision, a man who didn't know how to raise money for the college, and a man who constantly bickered with the trustees over the Quads and almost everything else he wanted to introduce to the campus. He would not compromise on any issue, whether academic or political. And he couldn't keep friends; as his own father was quoted as saying, "I never had a friend who was faithful to me." Like father, like son.

We see a picture of Wilson living with a tortured ego in a psychological "twilight zone" who could not be a friend with anyone who disagreed with him about anything. He had an exaggerated sense of self-importance and a craving for domination in everything.

The author, as a former student of Princeton himself (B.A. in Art History), covers the preceptorial system Wilson brought to Princeton, which is still advertised on their website, as Wilson's "brainchild," although I do not believe it facilitates excellence in education; it pressures students to "BS" their way through the course material. And the Eating Clubs Wilson opposed, are still there, albeit, they are now co-ed and less in number. Wilson wouldn't agree, but fraternities would have had a better socializing effect on students than these Clubs.

I wondered if the author would still have a job at Princeton after such a tour de force. So I was not surprised that he ended the book with what amounts to a three paragraph apology for Wilson, in which he attempts to vindicate Wilson's twisted educational vision for Princeton, by stating "Princeton University itself has finally come around to the blueprint that Wilson put forward one hundred years ago..." The author closed his book saying that "history would prove him (Wilson) right," confirms the author's vested interest as a former student and now on the Princeton faculty. A good read, but with that vested interest, one has to wonder if all the drama and fireworks presented for the previous 340 pages, is a chimera covering his own loyalty to Princeton...just putting a good face on Wilson's rocky road from Princeton to the presidency.