The Ghost at the Feast: America and the Collapse of World Order, 1900-1941

Dangerous Nation Trilogy #2

by Robert Kagan

A comprehensive, sweeping history of America’s rise to global superpower—from the Spanish-American War to World War II—by the acclaimed author of Dangerous Nation


“With extraordinary range and research, Robert Kagan has illuminated America’s quest to reconcile its new power with its historical purpose in world order in the early twentieth century.” —Dr. Henry Kissinger

At the dawn of the twentieth century, the United States was one of the world’s richest, most populous, most technologically advanced nations. It was also a nation divided along numerous fault lines, with conflicting aspirations and concerns pulling it in different directions. And it was a nation unsure about the role it wanted to play in the world, if any. Americans were the beneficiaries of a global order they had no responsibility for maintaining. Many preferred to avoid being drawn into what seemed an ever more competitive, conflictual, and militarized international environment. However, many also were eager to see the United States taking a share of international responsibility, working with others to preserve peace and advance civilization. The story of American foreign policy in the first four decades of the twentieth century is about the effort to do both—“to adjust the nation to its new position without sacrificing the principles developed in the past,” as one contemporary put it.

This would prove a difficult task. The collapse of British naval power, combined with the rise of Germany and Japan, suddenly placed the United States in a pivotal position. American military power helped defeat Germany in the First World War, and the peace that followed was significantly shaped by a U.S. president. But Americans recoiled from their deep involvement in world affairs, and for the next two decades, they sat by as fascism and tyranny spread unchecked, ultimately causing the liberal world order to fall apart. America’s resulting intervention in the Second World War marked the beginning of a new era, for the United States and for the world.

Brilliant and insightful, T he Ghost at the Feast shows both the perils of American withdrawal from the world and the price of international responsibility.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, American History, International Relations, American, World History

688 pages, Paperback

First published January 10, 2023

About the author

Robert Kagan is an American historian and foreign policy commentator. Robert Kagan is the son of Yale classical historian and author, Donald Kagan. He is married to Victoria Nuland, the former U.S. ambassador to NATO, and has two children. He is the brother of political commentator Frederick Kagan.

Kagan is a columnist for the Washington Post and is syndicated by the New York Times Syndicate. He is a contributing editor at both The New Republic and the Weekly Standard, and has also written for the New York Times, Foreign Affairs, the Wall Street Journal, Commentary, World Affairs, and Policy Review.

Reviews

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book took me FOREVER to finish! I normally will blaze through a book in a day, and books of this length might take me two. But this one literally took almost six weeks. I could only do half a chapter to maybe a full chapter a day. It was so dense! And I took a lot of time to highlight, take notes, and ruminate.

It's basically a very deep dive of a textbook into US history from the end of the Civil War through it's involvement in WWII. Because it's all revolved around various wars, there is some degree of military strategy (boring!), but it has a fair amount of US foreign policy, especially from the viewpoint of the Oval Office (less boring). Most of the book is about WWI and WWII and how the extent and timing of the US involvement in the first war created ripe conditions to trigger WWII. It then goes into great depth analyzing how Roosevelt orchestrated our entry into WWII and how it shaped the military juggernaut we've become.

I'm pretty open about my life and personal outlooks with these reviews, so as a far left political liberal, reading this book freaked me out because I could see so many parallels to how we are setting up our country now via MAGA and how Hitler came to power. I was also able to understand why the US military refuses to leave Korea, even though most of the Korean people would like them gone. And it made me disregard Roosevelt even more (didn't think I could dislike him anymore than I already did given all the racist and xenophobic damage he created while in office).

I think what makes this book kind of brilliant is that while these are some of the dots I was connecting, I bet someone on the other end of the political spectrum will have a completely different reading experience where they might be nodding their heads, feeling excited about the future, and belting out the national anthem with a mighty pride.

Very happy to have read it. I feel SO accomplished for having gotten through it!

[Cgallozzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book; fascinating style; deep insight - concerning American Foreign Policy from approximately 1900 through Pearl Harbor in 1941 - during which time the World Order then kept by the major democracies Great Britain, France and others collapsed - but the Americans did not present themselves as an alternative, war, anarchy and revolutions ensued allowing dictatorships to be installed. What then does the United States do?

The book provides context and perspective about both America's internal dialogue and then entrance to World War I; what America did or did not do during the 1920's and 1930's as war approached. During this time the "America First" movement (originated approximately before WW1) - and revived itself before WW2. Much detail linking Great Britain's "appeasement" at Munich before WW2 - to Great Britain's (correct) assessment that the United States would not support them in a shooting war with Germany; and further that at that time Great Britain could not prevail in a shooting war with Germany.

Mark Twain is alleged to have said "History doesn't repeat itself; but it often rhymes". I believe the current world situation is, in some ways, similar to the 1930's with behavior of some nations to be inconsistent with the rules-based American-led world order (IMF, World Bank, United Nations). Taking of other countries by force as one example. It remains what is to be seen about how this 'shift in the global order' plays out. I don't think the U.S. will emerge as powerful in the next Global World Order as it is currently.

Great analysis; insight - readable.

One long quote summarizes the book - there is none greater than from Page 407:

"In retrospect abstention from Europe's affairs did not seem to have been such a wise strategy. "In 1919 we had a golden opportunity" Henry Luce argued. "We bungled it in the 1920's and in the confusion of the 1930's we killed it."

As (Walter) Lippman put it, "Having disarmed ourselves and divided the old Allies from each other, we adopted the pious resolutions of the Kellogg Pact, and refused even to participate in the organization of a World Court.

Then, having objected to the reconstruction of the world, and having seen the ensuing anarchy produce revolutionary imperialist dictators of Russia, Italy and Germany - we tried to protect the failure of isolation-by neutrality acts which were to keep us safe by renouncing our rights."

"Errors of commission and omission" Max Lerner argued, brought the world to "The Threshold of an ice age, in which we shall have to fight and endure."

Carl Gallozzi
Cgallozzi@comcast.net

[Chad Manske · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great Kagan book, that is also replete with interventionist undertones! "At the dawn of the twentieth century, the United States was one of the world’s richest, most populous, most technologically advanced nations. It was also a nation divided along numerous fault lines, with conflicting aspirations and concerns pulling it in different directions. And it was a nation unsure about the role it wanted to play in the world, if any. Americans were the beneficiaries of a global order they had no responsibility for maintaining. Many preferred to avoid being drawn into what seemed an ever more competitive, conflictual, and militarized international environment. However, many also were eager to see the United States taking a share of international responsibility, working with others to preserve peace and advance civilization. The story of American foreign policy in the first four decades of the twentieth century is about the effort to do both—“to adjust the nation to its new position without sacrificing the principles developed in the past,” as one contemporary put it. This would prove a difficult task. The collapse of British naval power, combined with the rise of Germany and Japan, suddenly placed the United States in a pivotal position. American military power helped defeat Germany in the First World War, and the peace that followed was significantly shaped by a U.S. president. But Americans recoiled from their deep involvement in world affairs, and for the next two decades, they sat by as fascism and tyranny spread unchecked, ultimately causing the liberal world order to fall apart. America’s resulting intervention in the Second World War marked the beginning of a new era, for the United States and for the world. Brilliant and insightful, The Ghost at the Feast shows both the perils of American withdrawal from the world and the price of international responsibility."

[Bill Manzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Author Robert Kagan has given us an extraordinary book that looks at U.S. foreign policy from 1898 to the attack on Pearl Harbor. This book does not simply offer broad strokes but gets into the key aspects of decision making during this period.

Kagan is a State Department veteran and the author of “Dangerous Nation” which I have not read. This book follows “Dangerous Nation as the second in a trilogy. Some have classified him as a “neo-con” but at this point maybe those attempts to file individuals into defined categories is not as useful as it might have been once.

The United States of the early 20th century was indeed developing into an economic colossus but without the desire to play a large role in international affairs. The country, and its leaders, expressed a high level of disdain and distrust for such affairs, and were very reluctant to get intertwined in the rivalries and great power maneuvering of Europe. Kagan takes us through this period, leading up to the U.S. entry into World War I, with great detail. We get a real view of public opinion, and the political currents running through this question in the U.S. That opinion, right up until the U.S. entry into the War, always had a sizable segment favoring no involvement. The book is worth reading just for the detailed description of the tortured road Woodrow Wilson took from neutrality to American entry into WW I, and how some key public opinion changed over the course of the first three years of the war. Was there something more at stake than anger over German actions?

“Walter Lippmann spelled out these broader interests in the New Republic in the weeks following Germany’s January 30 announcement. He argued that the United States had an interest not in legalisms about neutral rights but in the preservation of an ‘Atlantic Community’ made up of the western and mostly democratic nations on both sides of the ocean. It had an interest in seeing to it that ‘the world’s highway’ should not be closed either to Americans or the Western Allies. It had an interest in defending ‘the civilization of which we are a part’ against the ‘anarchy’ that would result from a German victory. Germany was fighting for ‘a victory subversive of the world system in which America lives.’”

Kagan, Robert The Ghost at the Feast America and the Collapse of World Order 1900-1941 pg. 190

Lippmann articulated a concept that after World War II became a defining principle of U.S. foreign policy. But those that saw a larger U.S. interest in establishing and maintaining an international system based on common “western” values were to be disappointed at the end of the First World War. Wilson failed to bring the country along to this ideal, and despite the victory over Germany the U.S. simply receded, diplomatically, to its pre-war mindset of little or no involvement after the war. Kagan shows us the disaster that entailed, for the world, and for the United States.

“It is the contention of this book that the United States had it within its power to preserve the peace in Europe after 1919, and at a manageable cost. But for reasons having little to do with capacity , Washington policymakers would not take the steps necessary. And while it is customary to focus on the collapse of world order in the 1930s it was in the 1920s that the peace was truly lost. By the time Franklin Roosevelt took office in March 1933, Hitler was already in power in Germany, and the self described “have-not” powers, which included Italy and Japan along with Germany, had already embarked on their determined attempt to undo the fragile order that Americans were half-heartedly attempting to establish.”

Kagan, Robert The Ghost at the Feast America and the Collapse of World Order 1900-1941 pg. 220

Kagan lays out the thesis and then supports it with pretty difficult to argue with facts. With Europe in shambles from the war new diplomatic dynamics were being established, but as mentioned Washington was absent.

As Mark Twain said history doesn’t repeat itself but it does rhyme. As Woodrow Wilson fought for American participation in the League of Nations he was bitterly opposed by the national Republican Party.

“It was the party of Theodore Roosevelt who had asked Americans to ‘take a risk for internationalism.’ But in the process of opposing Wilson and the League, Lodge and his colleagues had radically shifted. The Republican Party became the party it would be for the next quarter century, the party that equated internationalism with Bolshevism, the party of ‘Americanism’ and insular nationalism, the party of rigid abstention from world politics, the party of William Borah. Republicans treated the League as if it were a European plot for world domination. They depicted France and Great Britain not as loyal allies who deserved American support but as greedy imperialists trying to bully and ensnare the United States in their wily scheme.”


Kagan, Robert The Ghost at the Feast America and the Collapse of World Order 1900-1941 pg. 254

And so the short sighted American demand for full repayment of the war debts of Britain and France led to a circular firing squad, with these demands spurring continued allied demands on the defeated Germans for full reparation payments. And with no security structure in place in the absence of American involvement the financial, as well as the security fears of France and Germany, brought the world full circle.

“Americans on the scene-career diplomats, military officers, and political appointees alike-warned throughout the 1920s that the danger of another war was high, that American economic interests were threatened, and that absent a more active American diplomacy a ‘catastrophe’ loomed.”
Kagan, Robert The Ghost at the Feast America and the Collapse of World Order 1900-1941 pg. 302

Kagan’s historical analysis is quite right, and the history is precise. Kagan, of course, is not looking solely at Europe. In much the same manner as in Europe the problems in Asia were beginning to boil over as well. After WW I there was a serious power vacuum in Asia, and the Japanese moved to fill it. The danger was seen, but the will to take the necessary steps, primarily a naval buildup that would allow the U.S. to restore some “equilibrium” in the Pacific, just was not there.

“The U.S. minister to China, Paul Reinsch, warned that if Japan were not contained, it would become ‘the greatest engine of military oppression and dominance’ that the world had ever seen and that a ‘huge armed conflict’ would be ‘absolutely inevitable.’”

Kagan, Robert The Ghost at the Feast America and the Collapse of World Order 1900-1941 pg. 314

Kagan takes us on the road to the Second World War, and how, even with the provocations of Hitler, it was still a non-interventionist bent in American public opinion. One of the issues that has always been of interest to me has been what the world, and U.S. response, to the Nazi policies and actions against the German Jewish population had been. Kagan gives us a truly great chapter on the U.S. response to Kristallnacht, and how that vile pogrom, in 1938, impacted U.S. public opinion in a way that was detrimental to Germany. Another chapter that made this book so very interesting to me.

Kagan has a point of view, and spells it out clearly. Agree or not the book will stimulate thought and discussion, and hopefully move that discussion to a higher plane.

This book is a wonderful read for those interested in this subject matter. Kagan has a chapter in the new book “The New Makers of Modern Strategy” which I have not yet arrived at, but I am looking forward to it. Highly recommended.

[William Schlickenmaier · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perfectly fine but the more I read it the more I realized it was just repeating what Adam Tooze did better in Deluge.

[Rich · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very thoroughly researched and interesting conclusions - although I think the author is looking for too much from an America that is transitioning from a frontier society to a modern industrial world power. Unfortunately, however, the book is mired in a lot of detail without necessarily bringing it to life (e.g. Erik Larson or David McCullough). Not to detract from what must have been a pain staking academic effort, I found the book a bit of a slog.

[Abraham Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Offers tremendous insight into America's foreign policy in and around the world wars in a way that never seems to grow long winded. I appreciate the fairness behind both sides of any issue as described through the lenses of politicians at the time as well as the exploration of hypothetical "what could have been" if the U.S. had made different decisions at key points.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very well written, so I’m definitely hoping to read more from Kagan, but very dense synthesis, so didn’t slog through to the very end. Especially liked Kagan’s take on Wilson’s administrations and America’s involvement in WW1 - great twin to the more narrative histories of that narrow time period!

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing and comprehensive work of history that details strategic decision-making and perceptions during the interwar period.

[Myles · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the last few days of my reading The Ghost at the Feast I am watching President Biden tussle with a Republican-controlled House of Representatives to pass continued funding for Ukraine’s defense against the Russian invasion.

Biden and the leaders of democratic Western Europe see Putin’s gambit as an intolerable trampling of the rights of a free and independent people.

Until Donald Trump became President of the United States most of us took for granted America’s place as the world’s policeman.

This book is about the torturous route America took from being severely isolationist to world hegemon in the span of about forty years coinciding with its involvement in two world wars.

At the turn of the twentieth century Americans shrank from playing any role in european conflict. It was left to Woodrow Wilson to declare war against the Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany on the heels of concerted attacks of German U-boats on American shipping. America was helping to supply England and France. It tried to play the role of neutral convincing no one.

It is worth noting that in the one event more than any other to change American public opinion toward greater European intervention, the sinking of the Lusitania, neither America nor Britain appear entirely innocent nor Germany an unprovoked aggressor. The Lusitania was — with the full knowledge of American officials — carrying war materiel including ammunition across the Atlantic to Britain. They can be justly accused of using non-combatants as a shield for the shipment, much like Hammas using Palestinian hospitals as a cover for military installation.

America clearly exceeded its profession of neutrality.

(I am new to the Lusitania story so I may be missing some subtlety in the story.)

Bringing America into the war was Germany’s biggest blunder in WWI as it became Japan’s and Hitler’s biggest blunder in WWII.

Speaking from the advantage of hind site this book makes some good arguments that had the US remained involved in European affairs after the armistice of 1918, and had America shown greater flexibility on repayment of war debts WWII could have been avoided.

Which brought us back to the present and Biden’s efforts to remain in a leadership position opposing Russian encroachments. It is both wise and necessary.

[Abbas Zubir · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent densely packed analysis on America rise to the power to become the global hegemon behemoth that it is today from its nascent state.

That origin story always baffled me, how and why did the European imperialist (especially Great Britain) passed the baton to America always seems a mystery to me. Kagan drew an interesting genealogical account of the narrative. Interestingly, the complexities of this early geopolitical complexity meant that for the most part, this section of history always remains a mystery. Leading to many conspiratorial account. What further perplexes the actual historical account and gave rise to more conpiracy to bloom, is the fact that the testimonial account of history doesn't quite jive with the genealogical account. How does one resolves such complication?

The testimonial account is further given rich accounting by some legitimate event that unfold such as the rise anti-interventionist movement for instance, that gave rise to the theory of capitalist-military industry complex. Was this a true facts?

Noam Chomsky was a champion of such theory (albeit in the modern era setting), to refute Chomsky account as entirely falsehood is an impossibility. Testimonial account reflects a certain true and as does genealogical account of history. Kagan, provide a genealogical account, it is complex and have too many moving parts. I, for instance, are much partial for genealogical account of history. To that end, this book by Kagan is an absolutely interesting read, in my opinion.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a sobering book. Kagan’s thesis is that World War II could have been avoided had the United States been more active in world affairs in the 1920s. He contends we should have entered the League of Nations, forgiven France’s and UK’s war debts, added even just a few thousand troops to those France, Belgium, and UK stationed in the Rhineland after the war pursuant to the Treaty of Versailles, and put more diplomatic pressure on Japan. But he is not critical per se of post-war leadership. He understands pursuing such things would have been unpopular with the public, perhaps even politically suicidal, and that there is a healthy amount of backward looking analysis surrounding thesis. (It was striking though how many quotes he marshaled from the late 1930s from individuals supporting it as they realized what the last two decades had wrought.) Thus, the book could serve as a warning for our future as much as a history of the past.

The book is about much more than how World War II could have been avoided, however. And it is excellent. The notes and bibliography are copious. The prose is informative but easy to read. Highly recommended.

[Georgia Williams]

Robert Kagan, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, has written a sequel to his “Dangerous Nation” to cover American foreign policy from 1900-1941. In 1900 fresh after defeating Spain in 1898 the U.S. had the largest economy in the world and was viewed as a non-entity as far as the great powers of Europe were concerned. Domestically there was a strong anti-imperialist lobby against the American occupation of the Philippines, but Kagan reminds us that the freeing Cuba from Spanish colonialism was highly popular across the political spectrum. Using terms of today, it was viewed as a “humanitarian intervention.” Further the takeover of the Philippines was accidental in that Admiral George Dewey was following a decade old plan to steam to Manila to engage the Spanish fleet where he won a resounding victory. Kagan argues that absent the U.S. intervention, sooner or later the Philippines would have been taken over by either Germany or Japan.

[Ralph B · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book filled in a lot of gaps in my understanding of the political environment in the US regarding foreign policy between WWI and WWII. When dealing with the evil of German war makers in both conflicts, neutrality and anti-interventionism simply enabled them to continue taking advantage of weaker countries. Hindsight is 20-20, of course, but it's clear the US could have saved a lot of suffering, bloodshed and holocaust from occurring with a tougher policy, even if it meant opposing public opinion at the time. As the author points out, national leadership can make a difference in shaping popular feelings.

Parallels can be drawn between Putin's current aggression in invading neighboring Ukraine and the world's response with the US and its NATO allies demonstrating they have learned their history lessons.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A challenging and illuminating read, The Ghost at the Feast contends that America’s inaction in world affairs was as important as our actions in shaping world history.

Kagan paints a picture of America at the end of the 19th c as isolated and economically self-contained, with little political interest or investment in foreign affairs. Determined to avoid involvement in foreign wars, America desired to exert a moral influence and sought to bring peace.

The book walks readers through the events leading to WWI and WWII. A major focus is on the struggle to create the League of Nations.

It is suggested that by becoming more involved, the United States could have altered history, especially after WWI.

Regardless if you agree with Kagan’s views, his research is impressive, and he presents the history in an engaging narrative.

Thanks to A. A. Knopf for a free book.

[Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kagan's main argument takes the general consensus that American non-involvement in the League of Nations contributed to the conditions that created the Second World War and assigns significantly greater blame than is commonly given. The essence of his argument is that the US could've created a reasonable facsimile of the post-WW2 liberal international order after the First World War if the country had been willing to place a small number of peacekeepers in Europe and had the will to resolve the Allied debt-German reparations bills by forgiving part or all of the war debt owed to the American government and financiers. This was the first book by Kagan that I have read and I was excited to see how one of the most influential IR scholars approached this topic. I haven't read the first part of the as-yet-incomplete trilogy so I'm not sure how Kagan's argument evolves from the first volume.

[Ernest Spoon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A history of American diplomatic and political timidity, willful ignorance and outright sabotage in world affairs from the end of the Spanish-American War to the eve World War II. I did learn that out-of-office Republican politicians torpedoing diplomatic overtures by a Democratic incumbent antedate Nixon's illegal interference in Johnson's Vietnam peace initiative, and the Reagan campaign to undermine Jimmy Carter during the Iran hostage crisis.

I found the post World War I foreign policy struggles of President Wilson, followed by benign neglect by succeeding Republican administrations enlightening. It was a black hole in US history for me. The concluding portion of this book was fairly familiar territory.

[Max Dodge · Rating 3 out of 5]

A generally well researched book covering an important topic. This books suffers from its author being a fanatical proponent of US interventionism and hegemony. I did find it nice to read a work that challenged my priors; however, I came away with the impression that Kagan was working at cross purposes with himself. Would it be better for the US to engage in multilateral institutions as an first among equals or should it have stationed troops in Europe after WW2 (the fact that there was precisely zero public appetite for this and almost no one advocated for it then or now seems to be a point worth addressing). Kagan seems to working back the history to reach his assumption that more American involvement in foreign affairs is always a good thing.

[Straker · Rating 3 out of 5]

While well researched and elegantly written, I was unpersuaded by the author's main argument that the US could have (or should have) enforced world peace following the end of World War I. The fact that the vast majority of Americans at the time opposed such a policy is by itself reason enough for it to have been rejected but Mr. Kagan, a well-known neoconservative, seems not to appreciate the role that public opinion plays in a democracy. Give it 3.5 stars and leave it on the bookshelf at the Brookings Institution where it belongs.

[Richard Subber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kagan’s approach to writing history is fully respectable. He tells it straight, and he knows what he’s talking about.
The Ghost at the Feast is a stunning commentary on the politics (domestic and international) that guided and muddled America’s role on the world stage in the first half of the 20th century.
Prepare to learn more about our history that you don’t already know. We didn’t always know exactly what we were doing.
Read more of my book reviews and poems here:
www.richardsubber.com

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kagan presents a damning indictment of U.S. foreign policy over a half century and its catastrophic results. From the actions -- and more importantly, inactions -- of U.S. Presidents and members of congress to average citizens, the U.S. eschewed chance after chance for world peace, opting instead for a "too much, too late" strategy which resulted in World War II and the calamitous
world we live in today. A masterwork, highly-researched and effectively written.

[Victor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-written argument that America’s influence on the world stage in the early 20th Century has been undervalued. It posits that America’s leadership (or lack of) was influential in the world order that enabled the rise of fascism and totalitarianism. One of the more interesting aspects is his research into how German and especially Japanese leadership made decisions based on what they thought America might do. Highly recommend this book as well as his earlier work Dangerous Nation.

[Seann Haver · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent Read!

I got a much better understanding of how complicated democracy is, and how important it is to maintain it. The price of freedom is dear. It is easy to be indifferent and complacent to our way of life in the West because we haven’t experienced the ugliness of the other.
Democracy is hard but it’s worth it!!

[Allen Stebbins · Rating 5 out of 5]

You’ve got to be the right person to enjoy this book & as it turns out I am. This is a nuanced diplomatic history of the United States from the run up to the Spanish America War to the run up to World War II. It’s nuanced & wonderfully insightful but if you don’t enjoy thinking deeply about history this probably is not the book for you.

[James S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well-written and engaging but with a subtle yet pervasive pro-American and pro-American-interventionist slant. The fact that Henry Kissinger provided a prominent blurb gives you some idea of the book's politics. Although the author is a neocon who supported the Iraq War, he broke with the Republicans over Trump, and this book is basically his rebuttal to Trump isolationism.

[Robert D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Robert Kagan has produced a truly masterful history of not only what happened but all the aspects of what could of happened and why. I have read a great deal of this era, but truly learned a great deal by reading this excellent book.

[Jack Rothwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating and relevant

Very engaging book. As much as I enjoyed learning about the history of the period, I kept thinking that the lessons in this book are ominously relevant to the current period in US history.

[Evan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 2 of 2024. A harrowing history of the action and inaction of the United States during the first 40 years of the 20th century. Kagan doesn’t shy from his thesis: the western world only thrives against autocratic regimes with the threat and use of U.S. military power.

[John E. Mudd · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Tour de Force

Superb narrative and research. Great book and a must read to history buffs. Reinforces my opinion that our times have much in common with the with the inter war years of 20’s and 30’s.

[Susan Crabtree · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous book which provides a broad policy view of the forces and restraints of American policy in the early 20th century. A must read for anyone trying to understand how Americans got into WWI and WWII and the decision-making that took place.

Should be required reading in all high schools.