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| Plot Summary of The Illusion of Victory – America in World War I |
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"The Illusion of Victory – America in World War I
Thomas Fleming
Basic Books, a member of the Pereus Books Group, 2003, 490 pp
ISBN: 0-465-02467-X
This is a hard hitting, revisionist look at the Presidency of Woodrow Wilson and America's role in World War I. For most Americans today World War I, which ended almost eighty years ago, is a part of history that occurred before they or their parents were born. The sinking of the Lusitania, the Zimmerman telegram, Wilson's 1916 electoral victory based upon the slogan "He Kept Us Out of War", the Treaty of Versailles, Wilson's Fourteen Points, the League of Nations, etc. are all things to be read in a history text.
In this book Woodrow Wilson comes across as a stubborn idealist with a gift for oratory. Spured on by his ambitious second wife, Edith Galt Wilson (his first wife had died) and personal advisor, Colonel Edward House (the "Colonel" title was an honorary one given to him by a Texas governor and was not a rank he had held in the military), Wilson was capable of articulating broad visionary policies that reflected America's ideals. But, like many idealists who come to power, Wilson tended to push his vision even when the vision proved impractical and tended to deal harshly with critics, going so far as to support the enactment of the Espionage and Sedition Acts and use them to jail hundreds of his critics (one of the most notable being the Socialist Party's 1920 Presidential candidate, Eugene Debs, who was forced to campaign from his cell in the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary). An example of his rigidity was his refusal to compromise on his plan for the League of Nations. Many history books cite Senator Henry Cabot Lodge's opposition to the League of Nations as the reason for America's refusal to join that organization. But Fleming points out that Lodge, and a majority of the American people, were not comfortable with some of the provisions in the proposed charter of the League, especially the clause that essentially required the United States to go to war at the direction of the League. Lodge proposed a compromise but Wilson refused to make any changes. Lodge's position on the League was vindicated by both the 1920 election, which the Democrats lost, and by the fact that, when the United Nations was formed to replace the failed League of Nations, its charter contained wording identical to the compromise wording Lodge had proposed."
Chuck Nugent, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of The Illusion of Victory – America in World War I |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
job/profession:
- politician
Job/profession/poverty story
Yes
Politician story?
- Politician trying to reform
War/Spying
Yes
Period of greatest activity?
- 1900+
Which war?
- World War I
Subject of Biography
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- politician/elected ruler
Age:
- 40's-50's
Eccentric/Mental
Yes
Eccentric:
- obsessed
Biography of famous person?
Yes
Ethnicity
- White
Nationality
- American (!)
How sensitive is this person?
- hard edged
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other people
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 3 ()
United States
Yes
The US:
- Northeast
Europe
Yes
European country:
- France
Century:
- 1900-1920's
Style
Person
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
Book makes you feel?
- thoughtful
Commentary on society?
Yes
Commentary on
- war
- dying
Writer's slant towards subject:
- very unfavorable
How much dialogue in bio?
- significantly more descript than dialog
How much of bio focuses on most famous period of life?
- 76%-100% of book
How much is philosophy rather than life story?
- 0-25% of book
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Click here for more information about this book
Thomas Fleming Resident Scholar Profiles
TOP SCHOLAR:
 Chuck Nugent
SCHOLARS:
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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