Richard Striner is professor of history at Washington College and the author of Lincoln’s Way: How Six Great Presidents Created American Power (R&L 2010), a History Book Club selection, as well as Father Abraham: Lincoln’s Relentless Struggle to End Slavery.

Timed to the centenary of WW I, this book offers a strongly argued and sharply focused attack on the presidential leadership of Woodrow Wilson. Using letters, speeches, diaries, and some traditional biographies. . . .it was once the staple of 'realist' thinkers about international affairs from Hans Morgenthau through Henry Kissinger. [R]arely has it been put this forcefully, or have Wilson's manifest mistakes in strategic thinking and contingency planning been so thoroughly dissected. Striner contends that from his initial 'unwise' appeal to Americans to remain 'impartial in thought' as well as neutral in action, Wilson was a 'disaster' as a wartime leader and 'dreadfully incompetent' in the peace negotiations that followed. The author occasionally mitigates the harshness of his critique by citing the possibility of various medical and psychological explanations for Wilson's behavior, and asks at the end of the book whether Wilson should be the 'object of our castigation or our pity?'. . . Striner thoroughly rejects the 'Wilson as the visionary prophet' view of Arthur Link, as well as the more sympathetic writings of Thomas Knock and John Milton Cooper. Summing Up: Recommended. All academic levels/libraries.

Richard Striner is professor of history at Washington College and the author of Lincoln’s Way: How Six Great Presidents Created American Power (R&L 2010), a History Book Club selection, as well as Father Abraham: Lincoln’s Relentless Struggle to End Slavery.

Timed to the centenary of WW I, this book offers a strongly argued and sharply focused attack on the presidential leadership of Woodrow Wilson. Using letters, speeches, diaries, and some traditional biographies. . . .it was once the staple of 'realist' thinkers about international affairs from Hans Morgenthau through Henry Kissinger. [R]arely has it been put this forcefully, or have Wilson's manifest mistakes in strategic thinking and contingency planning been so thoroughly dissected. Striner contends that from his initial 'unwise' appeal to Americans to remain 'impartial in thought' as well as neutral in action, Wilson was a 'disaster' as a wartime leader and 'dreadfully incompetent' in the peace negotiations that followed. The author occasionally mitigates the harshness of his critique by citing the possibility of various medical and psychological explanations for Wilson's behavior, and asks at the end of the book whether Wilson should be the 'object of our castigation or our pity?'. . . Striner thoroughly rejects the 'Wilson as the visionary prophet' view of Arthur Link, as well as the more sympathetic writings of Thomas Knock and John Milton Cooper. Summing Up: Recommended. All academic levels/libraries.

Richard Striner is professor of history at Washington College and the author of Lincoln’s Way: How Six Great Presidents Created American Power (R&L 2010), a History Book Club selection, as well as Father Abraham: Lincoln’s Relentless Struggle to End Slavery.

Timed to the centenary of WW I, this book offers a strongly argued and sharply focused attack on the presidential leadership of Woodrow Wilson. Using letters, speeches, diaries, and some traditional biographies. . . .it was once the staple of 'realist' thinkers about international affairs from Hans Morgenthau through Henry Kissinger. [R]arely has it been put this forcefully, or have Wilson's manifest mistakes in strategic thinking and contingency planning been so thoroughly dissected. Striner contends that from his initial 'unwise' appeal to Americans to remain 'impartial in thought' as well as neutral in action, Wilson was a 'disaster' as a wartime leader and 'dreadfully incompetent' in the peace negotiations that followed. The author occasionally mitigates the harshness of his critique by citing the possibility of various medical and psychological explanations for Wilson's behavior, and asks at the end of the book whether Wilson should be the 'object of our castigation or our pity?'. . . Striner thoroughly rejects the 'Wilson as the visionary prophet' view of Arthur Link, as well as the more sympathetic writings of Thomas Knock and John Milton Cooper. Summing Up: Recommended. All academic levels/libraries.