Though The World Remade: America in World War I is a big disappointment, in fairness to the author G. J. Meyer one should concede that he probably wrote the book he intended, but unfortunately not the book that I hoped for. I wanted to find out why and how the United States found she had to enter the Great War on side of the allies. The principal fault in the book is the lack of discussion or even recognition of the place in the world that America had achieved by the second decade of the last century. Though militarily the United States had then created a navy comparable to the Royal Navy, her army was little more than a frontier constabulary scarcely up to the task of chasing Pancho Villa out of Texas. Had the war continued as expected well into 1919, she would have fielded the most powerful army in the world. Leadership of western civilization had belonged to Spain in the 16th century, passed to France in the 17th century, Britain at the beginning of the 19th century. Now it was American’s turn, though it was a responsibility neither her politicians nor her people were ready to accept till 1945, perhaps not entirely even now, as the foreign policy of the current administration betrays.

When I read the phrase, “The American army’s Springfield rifle was considered the best in the world,” I realized that G. J. Meyer ought not to be writing military history. In fact the British Short Magazine Lee Enfield (Lee, BTW, was an American officer) had twice the magazine capacity & an experienced infantryman could fire it much faster, so fast that the Germans thought the British had a machine gun. There are only a few chapters in this very long book given to the actual fighting by the AEF, mostly at a high level of abstraction, though we read a good deal about Douglas MacArthur. Meyer seems to have missed the significance of the U-boat campaign, and its role not only in America’s entry into the war, but why marked the necessity of abandoning a passive role and leaving freedom of commerce to the Royal Navy to insure.

The British might have committed more technical violations of American neutrality with their no-nonsense enforcement of their naval blockade, though I found Meyers’ hand-wringing about starving German civilians maudlin—if the Germans had cared about their civilian population’s welfare, they could have ended the war; they were occupying Belgium and Northern France, after all. But the U-boat ended the leisure the two oceans had provided to isolate the United States from what was going on in the rest of the world, though another couple of decades would pass before Americans would receive a demonstration of what enemy submarines off their coast could accomplish.

Meyer notices, though in passing and mostly with respect to Wilson’s ambitions, that only by entering the war could America play a significant role in making the peace, a peace that would result in redrawing the maps of three continents, with consequences that are very much still with us today, especially in the Middle East. More important, as appears to have escaped the author, is that if America had remained neutral, the peace that would have resulted in Europe would have been the Peace of Brest-Litovsk, leaving Germany and her clients masters of eastern Europe, and ultimately the most powerful rival claimant for world leadership.

Of course, strategic reality had to be sold to the American electorate with the mushy moralism we still label “Wilsonianism”—“making the world safe for democracy” and “self-determination”—but under all the mush there is not only a good deal of enlightened self-interest, but a vital understanding of why America exists, of the duty of the people who inhabit the world’s most powerful nation to make the world a civilized and peaceful polity, to banish cruel tyrants and unnecessary suffering. The Romans understood that, the British understood that, and in 1917 it began to dawn on the Americans. And it may dawn on G. J. Meyer.

I am grateful to NetGalley and Random House for an advance review copy.

A exemplary researched comprehensive history of the US involvement in WWI . This is a very detailed excellent accounting of the changes that took place during WWI both in the states and at the front. A excellent guide for anyone interested in the history of WWI. Highly recommended.

A big thank you to G J Meyer, Bantam Books, and Netgalley for the free copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

The book sets the stage for a boiling pot. Franz Ferdinand was a tiny spark that lit the powder that was Europe in the early twentieth century. There seemed to be no way out once sides were drawn: the Triple Entente (Britain, France, Russia) and the Central Powers ( Germany and Austria. This war, remember, was a war to "end all wars" a war "to the death". Policy went out the window. And everyone wanted the United States on his side.

America's leader was Woodrow Wilson, a man who craved praise and approval. He set himself on a pedestal and expected others to worship accordingly but on his own timeline. From childhood he dreamed of a stately position and forged his education to fit the bill, becoming a lawyer only because it seemed to be a path to progress. He butted heads with Theodore Roosevelt who found Wilson too cowardly to make momentous decisions.

At the start of the war in 1914 the US claimed neutrality. This included its businesses. JP Morgan, for example, refused a $100 million loan to France. The stock market closed for four months because exports ceased. But it soon became apparent that trade with the Entente would prove profitable. And therein began the US' biased relationship with the Allies and their supply lines. It's never explicitly stated, but when Britain owed $1 billion and their loss meant throwing that debt into default, that's a huge push for the US to fight on the Allies' side.

Shipping became complicated. The British wished to enforce the Declaration of London, which outlined what products could be confiscated from ships. But then they modified it. Germany launched their U-boats, which made all sea voyages risky. As far as Germany was concerned the whole sea was a war zone. Amazingly Wilson insisted that Americans had the right to travel waters in safety regardless of the ship (armed, cargo, recreational, etc) on which they chose. This included on ships of countries that were at war.

And this is when Wilson became uncompromising to the point of arrogance. To quote Alan Seeger, a soldier and poet, "I cannot understand the American state of mind nor why Americans have the temerity to venture into a declared war-zone, much less let their wives and children go there." Or what about this quote from German Foreign Minister,"why not the right of free travel on land in war territory?" Wilson continued to sit clueless behind his typewriter drafting one ultimatum after another, insulting and appalling both the members of the Entente and the Central Powers. By the time he narrowly won his second term of office he had become a narrow minded hypocrite who isolated himself from all disagreement or criticism and showed annoyance with outside interference, which included his Cabinet members and ambassadors.
As the United States government continued to hide behind closed doors and isolate itself, the war remained deadlocked. Wilson wished to force peace talks, while Lloyd George refused any end except complete annihilation of the German forces, and the Kaiser refused to desist the u-boat attacks. So stale mate of the most catastrophic event the world had ever faced.
While all of this was occurring in Europe, the citizens of America were also battling the women suffrage, early Prohibition, and increased taxes and inflation caused by the ballooning national debt. Wilson was against the first, for the second, and the sole cause of the last, lending and spending as if the coffers were bottomless.

Fatalistically the negotiations, and that term is used loosely, set the stage for the next world war. Communist Russia was in place; a weak, token republican Germany could not pay its reparations and feed its citizens; most of Britain was disillusioned by the supposed justice meted out; and France was obsessed with European domination. Then there is the Middle East and its bloody wars, Japan's indignation, and Eastern Europe's confusion. Nothing was settled except Wilson's grandiose machinations on the chess board of the globe.
Freedom of speech was assaulted. "Hyphenates" were beat on the streets, arrested, and deported. The right to assemble was taken away. Unions were busted. The Espionage Act, passed in 1918, is still on the books.

Myers did a fantastic job of laying the facts on the line. I know the politics behind this war now and tons about President Wilson. Very impressed. No florid speech. This serious subject was treated with the respect it is due.

Meyer states in the introduction that he wants "The World Remade" to be a companion to his previous work, "The World Undone." In this reviewer's opinion, Meyer has achieved the goal. I was impressed by the breadth and depth of this book. Having read "The World Undone" and multiple other works on WWI, the events leading up to it, and the Treaty of Versailles, much of the information in the book dealing with events in Europe was familiar to me. However, I gained a much deeper insight into events in the U.S., especially regarding President Wilson and regarding the battle over the League of Nations in Congress. Wilson is often portrayed as a great liberal and progressive, but he was actually one of the most illiberal presidents, with his administration supporting, enacting, and enforcing some of the most undemocratic laws (the Sedition Act and the Espionage Act) in very draconian fashion against those who dared to disagree with the Wilson Administration regarding WWI. As Meyer stated, the Espionage Act "set the stage for the most far-reaching assault on the rights of citizens in American history, before or since."

Wilson, as portrayed in this book, is a person who believed he knew what was right and anyone who disagreed was unworthy of him. While I knew that the Wilson Administration's claim of neutrality in the years prior to the U.S. entering the war was a tenuous claim, I was surprised at how biased the US was in favor of Britain (more than I realized) and how far Wilson would stretch logic to keep up the myth of neutrality in order to advance his goal of the US (and more specifically himself) being the power that dictated the terms of the peace. Although his desired aim of creating a world where war would no longer be possible was admirable (although rather naïve), he was willing to engage in behaviors, including self-deception, that were shameful and made a mockery of the image he tried to portray of himself, his administration, and the U.S. Probably the most devastating thing Wilson allowed to happen was the continuation of the naval blockade by the British, allowing for the starvation of the Central Powers, especially Germany, and condemning Germany for taking efforts to block the blockade via submarine warfare. "Affecting as it did tens of millions of noncombatants, the blockade was on its way to becoming possibly the most successful and important initiative of the war."

While Meyer does not draw these parallels himself, one of the things I found interesting is the parallels that can be drawn between the U.S. during the Wilson Administration and the US under the Obama and now Trump Administration. Both Wilson and Obama wanted to be viewed as liberal champions and both often spoken with lofty rhetoric that was too often short on substance and both believed that the public would support their views on issues simply because they voiced them. President Obama was the most prolific user of the Espionage Act since Wilson and his targets were often members of the press who revealed information critical of his administration. While comparing Wilson and Trump is an insult to Wilson, there does appear to be a similarity in how poorly they react to criticism (although I cannot see Wilson utilizing twitter to denigrate his critics). While I knew that the propaganda factories were running at full speed during the war, I was surprised to learn that the British actually cut the transatlantic cables so that Britain could control what news from Europe reached the U.S. and therefore dictate how the belligerents, especially Germany, were viewed. It brings to mind the "fake news" that is so prominent on social media and that at times makes its way into "serious" media outlets (and which has proven beneficial at times to the Trump Administration).

I think anyone interested in World War I, President Wilson, or what the U.S. was like politically, economically, and socially in the early 20th century, especially between 1914 and 1919, will find this to be an interesting and worthwhile book to read.

April 6th, 1917 - one hundred years ago today - the United States officially entered World War I, and ironically, began the most savage and relentless attack on civil rights and free speech in the history of the country.

A new book, “The World Remade: America in World War I” by G. J. Meyer, delves deeply into many aspects of the war even someone fairly familiar with history will find startling.

For example, Meyer writes that the assault on Germany began with an intense propaganda campaign that mixed half-truths with outright lies to paint a simplistic and inaccurate picture of the reasons for the war, and the necessity of U.S. involvement.

To this day, most Americans see Germany as the main aggressor, unleashing a savage campaign of conquest and rapine rarely equaled.

But in truth, Meyer points out, the last European nation to mobilize its troops in that fateful August of 1914 - was Germany.

President Woodrow Wilson - whose actual name was Thomas Woodrow Wilson - oversaw passage of the Espionage Act of 1917 and Sedition Act of 1918.

They prohibited "any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about the form of government of the United States ... or the flag of the United States, or the uniform of the Army or Navy."

People, up to and including four-time presidential candidate Eugene V. Debs, were arrested and sentenced - often to decades in prison - for speaking out in opposition of the war.

Meyer writes that during the actual fighting, American troops were sent into bloody battles even after the issue was decided, leading to thousands of unnecessary casualties, all so their officers could claim combat experience on their resumes.

The book is compelling, well-written, well-sourced, and offers a fresh look at a time in American history which changed our nation, and the world we live in, forever.

It is published by Bantam on March 7th of this year.

A bit on the dry side, but a very informative book! History lovers will especially enjoy it.

I received a free Kindle copy of this book courtesy of Net Galley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballentine, the publisher. It was with the understanding that I would write a review and post it to Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon and my history book review blog. I also posted it to my Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google Plus accounts.

I requested this book as I have a keen interest in american history and the presidents. This is the first book by G. J. Meyer that I have read.

First, the book is well researched and written. It provides an overview of the United States involvement in World War I and the aftermath centering around President Woodrow Wilson. I have read a number of books on the subject and in almost all they either overlook President Wilson's flaws or overly focus on them. The author in his introduction stresses that his work is nonjudgemental, but then throughout the book focuses on the perceived flaws of Wilson.

If you have read a number of books on World War I you will not find anything new or enlightening in this book. I do recommend it to those who have not read about the subject and are looking for a good overview.

Definitely a tome for history buffs (which I am), this book also provides plenty of chances to ponder the news headlines and nationalistic motivations of today's politics and policies. Why did the US delay and then enter the war? Who was motivated to do what and why? We studied and visited several Great War sites last year. This book delves much more deeply into these kinds of themes, now being explored in the new museums built for the 100th anniversaries of the Battle of the Somme, Ypres, and more... Myers manages to tell stories while at the same time accurately portraying layers and layers of the historical dramas in several countries that made up the crazy events of World War I.

Thanks, Netgalley, for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review

Disclosure: I received a review copy of this book from NetGalley.

G.J. Meyer previously wrote a synthesis on the First World War which was fairly well received as a volume for the occasional reader into the subject. It offered little originality but did distill a wide range of sources into a readable form. His newest volume, The World Remade: America in WWI, accomplishes the same task. It offers very little new in its arguments, but can work well as a single-book read for lay people interested in America’s role in WWI and the new world it birthed.

Meyer argues that Wilson was very much living in his own world before, during, and after WWI, largely disconnected from reality. And this feature of Wilson’s personality was central to America entering the war, it’s conduct within, and it’s failure after. To Meyer, American entry into WWI was as much a product of Edward House as Woodrow Wilson. He paints a picture of an administration very much disconnected from reality. Where fact was insufficient to fulfill expectations, they were eager to insert “alternate facts” into their decision-making. This was fed, in turn, by a tight control of the media in wartime Britain and France, which carefully crafted a message to the American government and public. As war became realty, the Wilson administration instituted its own control of domestic media, ensuring any deviation from “alternate facts” was severely punished. America’s rejection of Wilson made his dream of a new world order an impossible dream, yet he refused to stop pushing. The resulting incomplete world order directly contributed to a Second World War a mere 21 years later. But this is not entirely a story of Wilson’s delusion. Meyer also writes extensively on US preparedness and military campaigns, with varying accuracy. He neither over nor understates the American contribution. In addition to the main story, Meyer indulges in many digressions to describe characters in his drama.

This is a very readable and enjoyable book. Meyer is able to keep the reader’s attention through some fairly dry material. The proof version I am reviewing has surprisingly few spelling or grammatical errors, and is well served by photographs and maps. The final will likely be even more complete in this regard. He includes extensive notes and a short essay on his sources; mostly secondary sources but he is not claiming to be engaging in new research. Nevertheless, his secondary sources are often the leading monographs on their subjects. Selecting the sources he’s distilling is definitely a skill Meyer possesses: there is little irrelevancy in them.

This is not to say there are not problems. Meyer’s central theme of Wilson possessing great ability in self-deception is perched on a foundation of psychohistory. While any biography will engage in a certain amount of personality analysis, the simple fact that one cannot actually psychoanalyze a dead person largely delegitimizes the endeavor. Interestingly, Meyer does mention a previous attempt to psychoanalyze Wilson. Published in the 1930s in Europe, but not in the US until 1967, Thomas Woodrow Wilson: A Psychological Study, is exceptionally infamous. Its authors were William Bullitt, a career diplomat who was the first unofficial envoy and first official ambassador to the USSR, and Sigmund Freud, noted psychoanalyst. The two argued that Wilson was a naïve religious fanatic; but it is widely agreed that the book was mostly Bullitt exercising his grudge against his former boss. While Meyer is aware of one discredited work, he is apparently unfazed by the general disrepute of the entire genre.

Additionally, the book is a vast tome: almost 700 pages, weighing in at 11138 “positions” in a Kindle ebook. This is not a bad thing on its own, but a substantial amount of pages are dedicated to well-written digressions of questionable relevancy. Especially in the early part of the book, Meyer gives mini-biographies of historical figures we meet, even when they don’t play a significant role. An entire section is devoted to William Jennings Bryan: despite being in Wilson’s administration at the start of the European war, he’s out as SecState in June of 1915 and focuses his efforts on suffrage and conservative social reform, removing himself from the story except in snapshots. While a reader who doesn’t know of The Great Commoner may benefit, other readers gnash their teeth in impatience.

Despite some shaky foundations and minor quibbles, The World Remade is a highly readable synthesis of the significance of America in the First World War and the resulting order imposed on the globe by the victors. It may be apropos in a world in which the US debates removing itself once again from the position of power.

Firstly, I enjoyed the book. It was a great synthesis of how the US fought against joiningthe fight but was eventually brought into the conflict by the machinations of England, France and Woodrow Wilson. That being said, I realize Wilson fallen into disrepute in recent scholarly purviews and I can't disagree with this fact but I somehow got feel thar the author had an axe to grind against Wilson. While I can't argue with the points made about Wilson's sanctimonious nature, it just seemed to me that some of the points were painted with some bias. However I would still recommend the book for testing amount of ground covered.

After reading this book, I realized how little I knew about World War I. Woodrow Wilson is lauded as a man of peace, but he was a self-righteous fool. He believed he was always right about anything. If anyone disagreed with him, that person was not only wrong, but morally wrong and forever scorned. Wilson refused to consult with his cabinet, Congress, anyone but his pal Edward House, who knew how to manipulate him with effusive praise. He was so intent on creating his League of Nations he allowed France and Britain to write a horrendous peace treaty.
The British manipulated Wilson (and America) from the beginning: severing underwater cables so only their propaganda got through, collaborating with Wilson’s pal Edward House to write America’s responses to British atrocities, setting a precedence for the future. Britain had been in decline since 1870, while united Germany grew industrially. Britain’s resentment of Germany was a significant reason for going to war. Wreck the upstart rival and reassert their global supremacy.
Germany had been the last European nation to mobilize. The others had mobilized on the basis of false reports. When Russia and France mobilized, Germany was motivated, not by the desire of conquest, but fear of being crushed by its neighbors.
Innocent little Belgium was not so innocent; rather, it was a junior partner with Britain and France, secretly planning for war with Germany and receiving British aid.
Britain decried Germany’s U-boats, but actually had more subs than Germany, preying on Baltic Sea shipping lanes. London’s censors created stories of German “frightfulness” with their U-boats to divert attention from their own transgressions—an illegal blockade of Germany and denying neutrals the right to trade with anyone Britain didn’t want them to. Britain ruled the waves and waived the rules.
The U.S. should have maintained strict neutrality, not supplying the Allies and giving them credit, and should not have intervened. The warring nations would have soon exhausted themselves.
This is just the tip of the iceberg G. J. Meyer reveals in A World Remade. This is an excellent book.