This is a well written book that goes into great depth to show what was going on at the time of America's declaration of war against Germany in World War I. It reveals the biased news reports that Americans were hearing thanks to the Allies and also how the country became more and more financially dependent on an Allied victory as both Britain and France borrowed from the United States heavily in order to keep their war efforts going. It also reveals how Woodrow Wilson became more and more convinced over time that America needed to enter the war in order for him to be at the peace table to implement his style of peace that he envisioned that Europe needed.
The flawed premise that the book is based is that had America not entered the war, the combatants would have been forced by sheer exaustion to negotiate a peace without all the punishments that were seen in the Treaty of Versailles. Based on the earlier history of the war, this would not have happened and the author ignores this part of the war in order to keep his premise going. In December of 1914, after the first 4 months of the war, both sides were already horrified by the amount of casualties they had suffered and were thinking of a way to end the war at that point. The thing that stopped them at the time was how to justify the war to their own people. What had all the casualties been suffered for if nothing changed? For this reason, the war continued until one side or the other could win a victory which would allow them to claim a reward to justify the cost. This would have been true in 1917 and 1918 where the cost was even higher now. Even if the United States had stayed out of the war, they would have kept fighting until one side or the other was completely exhausted. Then the other side would have imposed their peace just as happened in 1919. So the end result would have been the same since it is more likely Germany that would have collapsed and probably no long after she did so historically.
Despite the flawed premise, I still believe this to be a well written book and can still recommend it to a reader who is interested in America's involvement and impact on the First World War. It has added to my knowledge of the time period and will do the same for others.
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