Book – War Against War

War Against War – The American Fight For Peace 1914-1918 by Michael Kazin – There is a story about the first World War that we are not taught in school.  A story about how many Americans did not want to get involved. A story about the group of people who very nearly kept us out of that war.  Peace movements are not some invention of the last half-century.  At the beginning of the 20th Century, a movement to keep America out of the “foreign entanglements” our Founding Fathers warned us about very nearly steered this country away from the “War to End All Wars”.

We would live in a very different America if they did.

As a new Progressive movement begins to build in the United States, this is a book that would be worthwhile reading for those trying to build on those ideals.  Kazin carefully stitches together all the various parts of that earlier movement into a fascinating look at the beginnings of the world’s only superpower today.  Pacifists, women’s suffrage, socialists, people opposed to “militaryism” (the creation of a large, permanent military), rich and poor, Christian, Jewish, atheist.  Add in a wonderful cast of characters – “Fighting Bob” LaFollette, Wisconsin political legend and presidential candidate,  Labor lawyer Morris Hillquit,  Activist and reformer Jane Addams,  House Majority Leader Claude Hitchens, who often opposed his own party and President as he fought against the war.  Two Presidents, Theodore Roosevelt, who pushed with all his might to make America a military power and Woodrow Wilson, who promised to keep America out of war only to lead us into it.  There are dozens more mixing the pot along the way.

Kazin does a great job showing just how different America was a century ago.  But he also carefully shows the connections between the decision made prior to our entry into the war (less than a year before it ended) and the “Patriot Act” world we have today.  Most of us have grown up in a world with large intelligence and security agencies and the world’s most powerful military.  These are aspects of American culture that are only a century old.  They were also concepts that our great grandfathers would have opposed strongly.  Once the decision was made to go to war President Wilson began a series of violations of Constitutional rights of those who disagreed with his decision.

The history I was taught about this time period focused on the bravery of the American soldier as he headed “Over There” and how we turned the tide to win the war.  Kazin shows that, as always, history is much more nuanced than that.

Why I Liked It : Kazin takes what is largely an intellectual battle and makes it a compelling story.

Why You Will Like It – History will come alive here.  These are not just dusty figures from long ago.  They are real people, with real strengths and weaknesses.

War Against War is scheduled to hit bookshelves in January 2017.

Rating – **** Recommended