Leuchtenburg, The Perils of Prosperity, 1914–1932, 2e (1993)

William E. Leuchtenburg.
The Perils of Prosperity, 1914–1932, Second Edition.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993.

Book Information: Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.

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Author Information:

• William Leuchtenburg, Department of History, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
• William Leuchtenburg (b. 1922), Wikipedia.
• William E. Leuchtenburg, C-SPAN.
• William E. Leuchtenburg. Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal: 1932-1940. New York: Harper & Row, 1963. New York: HarperCollins, 2009.
  [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]
• William E. Leuchtenburg. The Supreme Court Reborn: The Constitutional Revolution in the Age of Roosevelt. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.
  [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]
• William E. Leuchtenburg. In the Shadow of FDR: From Harry Truman to Barack Obama, Fourth Edition. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 2009.
  [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]
• William E. Leuchtenburg. Herbert Hoover. New York: Times Books / Henry Holt and Company / Macmillan Publishers, 2009.
  [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]
• William E. Leuchtenburg. The American President: From Teddy Roosevelt to Bill Clinton. New York: Oxford University Press, 2015.
  [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]

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Wikipedia Articles:

• History of the United States (1918–1945).

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I think The Perils of Prosperity, 1914–1932 is too short for the very eventful and significant period it covers; but it does have a very thorough bibliographical essay.

Leuchtenburg's discussion of Republican policy during 1914–1932 is mostly dismissive assertions rather than analysis. His analysis of presidential election results in the 1920s (all huge Republican victories) consists more of perverse reasons why people might vote against Democrats and less of the positive reasons of votes for Republicans. The book conveys the impression that the Republican administrations of the 1920s (1921–1933) were a strange interregnum between the supposedly more enlightened reigns of Wilson and FDR. I think we can more insightfully interpret the 1920s as the continuation and termination of the long Republican dominated period from 1860 to FDR, and view Wilson's presidency as an aberration caused by Roosevelt splitting the Republican vote in 1912. (Leuchtenburg implicitly believes, and at one point explicitly asserts, that the Democratic Party is somehow the natural and rightful ruling party of the U.S.)

David M. Kennedy's Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945 (1999) provides a superior description and analysis of the Hoover administration and causes of the Great Depression.

Leuchtenburg seems to have done a better job with the Hoover administration in his later book:

• William E. Leuchtenburg. Herbert Hoover. New York: Times Books / Henry Holt and Company / Macmillan Publishers, 2009.
  [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]

as this C-SPAN interview indicates:

• William Leuchtenburg and Greta Brawner, "President Herbert Hoover," Washington Journal, C-SPAN, 16 December 2008.

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Farwell, Over There: The United States in the Great War, 1917-1918 (1999)

Byron Farwell.
Over There: The United States in the Great War, 1917-1918.
New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1999.

Book Information: Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.

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Author Information:

• Byron Farwell, W. W. Norton & Company.
• Byron Farwell (1921 – 1999), Wikipedia.

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Wikipedia Articles:

• American entry into World War I.
• United States in World War I.
• American Expeditionary Forces.
• United States campaigns in World War I.
• Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War.
• Elsie Janis (1889 – 1956).
• Joyce Kilmer (1886 – 1918), author of the poem "Trees" (1913).

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Video:

• Haley Hocking and Sarah Runyan, "Elsie Janis: 'The Larks, Still Bravely Singing, Fly'" (a nine minute student project documentary about Elsie Janis).
~~~~~
• The Great War, BBC, 1964.
  • The Great War (documentary), Wikipedia.
  • Search YouTube for The Great War BBC 1964.
• The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century, KCET/Los Angeles, BBC, Imperial War Museum, 1996.
  • The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century, Wikipedia.
  • The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century, PBS.
  • Search YouTube for The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century.
• The First World War, BBC, 2003.
  • The First World War (TV series), Wikipedia.
  • YouTube playlist.
• The Great War, Mediakraft Networks GmbH, 2014-2018.
  • The Great War YouTube Home.
  • The Great War YouTube playlist.
• Between 2 Wars, TimeGhost History, 2018.
  • Between 2 Wars YouTube playlist.

The following talks are very good supplements to Farwell's book:

• Richard S. Faulkner, "Giant with Feet of Clay: The U.S. Army Enters WWI," National WWI Museum and Memorial, Kansas City, Missouri, 18 April 2017.
  • Richard S. Faulkner. Pershing's Crusaders: The American Soldier in World War I. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 2017.
    [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]
• Paul Herbert, "Battle of Cantigny: Dawn of the Modern American Army," National WWI Museum and Memorial, Kansas City, Missouri, April(?) 2018.
• Shawn Faulkner (aka Richard S. Faulkner), "The Americans Enter the Fray: June - August 1918," National WWI Museum and Memorial, Kansas City, Missouri, 26 June 2018.
• Richard S. Faulkner, "The AEF in Battle: September to November 1918," National WWI Museum and Memorial, Kansas City, Missouri, 29 August 2018.

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Farwell's Over There is an introductory survey of the USA's participation in the First World War. It is mostly focused on U.S. soldiers' experiences in Europe (in contrast, for example, to Kennedy's Over Here and Neiberg's The Path to War which focus exclusively on U.S. domestic matters).

I found Farwell's book an awkward combination of too much and too little: too many minor details and not enough continuous narrative; awkward jumps from larger events to individual soldier's heroic actions; too many large topics discussed briefly. It is probably not quite what people seek in a military history; battles are described, but briefly, and the maps are copied from 1919 and 1938 publications, not new. The book has some military history, some political history, some social history, some photos, some maps; it says something about many things that the U.S. Army did during 1917-1919, all in less than 300 pages of main text.

An often recommended book (that I haven't seen yet):

• Edward M. Coffman. The War to End All Wars: The American Military Experience in World War I. New York: Oxford University Press, 1968. Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky, 1998.
  [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]

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Stevenson, 1917: War, Peace, and Revolution (2017)

David Stevenson.
1917: War, Peace, and Revolution.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017.

Book Information: Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.

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Author Information:

• Professor David Stevenson, Department of International History, London School of Economics and Political Science.
• David Stevenson, Wikipedia.
• David Stevenson. 1914-1918: The History of the First World War. London: Allen Lane / Penguin Books, 2004.
  [Publisher UK; Amazon.co.uk.]
  USA edition:
  Cataclysm: The First World War as Political Tragedy. New York: Basic Books (Hachette Book Group), 2004.
  [Publisher USA; Google Books; Amazon.com.]
• David Stevenson. With Our Backs to the Wall: Victory and Defeat in 1918. London: Allen Lane / Penguin Books, 2011.
  [Publisher UK; Amazon.co.uk.]
  USA edition:
  With Our Backs to the Wall: Victory and Defeat in 1918. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2011.
  [Publisher USA; Google Books; Amazon.com.]

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Video: David Stevenson

• David Stevenson and Krzysztof Odyniec, "1917: War, Peace, and Revolution," New Books Network, 22 January 2018.
• David Stevenson, "American Intervention and World Politics: War and Diplomacy in 1917," National World War I Museum and Memorial, Kansas City, Missouri, 04 November 2017.
  • 2017 Symposium - "1917: America Joins the Fight", National World War I Museum and Memorial, Kansas City, Missouri.
  • Video also at C-SPAN: "U.S. Entry Into World War I and Global Politics."
• David Stevenson, "The Military History of the First World War: An Overview and Analysis," Gresham College, London, 18 November 2014.
  • Lecture Information, Gresham College, London.
• David Stevenson, "The Politics of War, 1914-1917," Fritt Ord Foundation, Oslo, Norway, 08 March 2014.
  • ‘The War to End all Wars’, Fritt Ord Foundation, Oslo, Norway, 8-9 March 2014.
• David Stevenson, "From War to Peace? 1918-1924," Fritt Ord Foundation, Oslo, Norway, 09 March 2014.
  • ‘The War to End all Wars’, Fritt Ord Foundation, Oslo, Norway, 8-9 March 2014.

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Wikipedia Articles:

• 1917.
• World War I: 1917–1918.

Part I: Atlantic Prologue

Chapter 1: Unleashing the U-Boats

• 1917: Resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare, announced by Germany 31 January.

Chapter 2: Enter America

• American entry into World War I; President Wilson's War Message delivered 02 April.
• Diplomatic history of World War I: American entry in 1917.

Chapter 3: Britain Adopts Convoys

• Convoys in World War I, slowly adopted by Britain beginning at the end of April.

Part II: Continental Impasse

Chapter 4: Tsar Nicholas Abdicates

• February Revolution; Tsar Nicholas II abdicated 02 March (15 March Gregorian).

Chapter 5: France Attacks

• Nivelle Offensive, April - May.
• Second Battle of the Aisne, April - May.
• Battle of Arras, April - May.
• Battle of Vimy Ridge, April.
• 1917 French Army mutinies, May - June.

Chapter 6: The Kerensky Offensive

• Kerensky Offensive, July.

Chapter 7: The Road to Passchendaele

• Battle of Passchendaele (Third Battle of Ypres), July - November.

Chapter 8: Collapse at Caporetto

• Battle of Caporetto (Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo), October - November.

Chapter 9: Peace Moves and Their Rejection

• Sixtus Affair.
  Also discussed in: Zita of Bourbon-Parma: The Sixtus affair.
• Armand-Revertera Affair.
• Reichstag Peace Resolution, July.
• Pope Benedict XV: Peace efforts.
• Third Zimmerwald Conference, Stockholm, September.
• "Villalobar kite".
• Briand-Lancken episode.
• Presidency of Woodrow Wilson: Neutrality in World War I.
• Julius Andrassy, "Diplomacy and the War," 1921, translated by J. Holroyd Reece, Wikisource.

Part III: Global Repercussions

Chapter 10: The Spread of Intervention: Greece, Brazil, Siam, China

• Greece during World War I.
• Brazil during World War I, declared war against Central Powers, 26 October.
• History of Argentina (1916–30): World War I and Foreign Relations.
• Siam in World War I, declared war against Central Powers, July.
• Republic of China (1912–1949).
• Diplomatic history of World War I: China.
• Chinese Labour Corps.
• Twenty-One Demands of Japan upon China.
• May Fourth Movement.
• Japan during World War I.
  Lansing–Ishii Agreement, November.

Chapter 11: Responsible Government for India

• British Raj: 1914–1947.
• History of the British Raj: World War I and its causes.
• Indian Army during World War I.

Chapter 12: A Jewish National Home

• Middle Eastern theatre of World War I.
• Sinai and Palestine Campaign.
• Balfour Declaration, November.
• Sykes–Picot Agreement of 1916, secret until published 23 November.
• Battle of Jerusalem, November – December.

Part IV: Conclusion

Towards 1918: Lenin's Revolution, the Ludendorff Offensives, and Wilson's Fourteen Points

• Kornilov affair, August (September Gregorian).
• October Revolution (Bolshevik Revolution), 25 October (07 November Gregorian).
• Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, March 1918.
• Spring Offensive (Ludendorff Offensive; Kaiserschlacht), March – July 1918.
• The Inquiry, USA, September.
  Fourteen Points, January 1918.

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Stevenson's book 1917 is an excellent survey of major events and decision-making during the year 1917. The principal feature of the book is the author's detailed description and analysis of debates among leaders, providing insight into the perennial question "What were they thinking?" for a year that featured many strategic failures.

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Emmerson, 1913: In Search of the World Before the Great War (2013)

Charles Emmerson.
1913: In Search of the World Before the Great War.
New York: PublicAffairs (Perseus Books Group / Hachette Book Group), 2013.

First published as: 1913: The World Before the Great War. London: The Bodley Head, 2013.

Book Information: Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.

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Author Information:

• Charles Emmerson, his website.
• Charles Emmerson (b. 1976), Wikipedia.
• Charles Emmerson. The Future History of the Arctic. New York: PublicAffairs, 2010.
  [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]
• Charles Emmerson. Crucible: The Long End of the Great War and the Birth of a New World, 1917-1924. New York: PublicAffairs, 2019.
  [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]

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Video: Charles Emmerson

• Charles Emmerson and Peter Slen, "Book Discussion with Charles Emmerson," C-SPAN, 14 March 2013.
• Charles Emmerson, "1913/2013: In Conversation with Charles Emmerson," National World War I Museum and Memorial, Kansas City, Missouri, 21 October 2013.

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Wikipedia Articles:

• 1913.
• 1910s.
• Causes of World War I.
• World War I.

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