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What Wilson Did At Paris
This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.
124 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2007
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About the author
Ray Stannard Baker
178 books5 followersAlso known by his pen name David Grayson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Stan...
see also David Grayson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Stan...
see also David Grayson
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 20, 2024
Ray Stannard Baker, an American journalist of the first quarter of the 20th Century, was an exceptional man. He earned his spurs, as it were, as a "muckraker," one of the groundbreaking Progressive journalists who sought to expose corruption in government and in the corporate/business world.
A couple of years ago I read his remarkable autobiography -- Chronicles -- and highly recommend that as well for he writes in a candid, hold-nothing-back way that is gripping and powerful.
This little book was first published in 1919, after the conclusion of the Versailles Peace Conference that sought to end World War I but before the US Senate's final rejection of that treaty, including Woodrow Wilson's prize, membership in the League of Nations.
Baker is hardly a neutral figure in this. He was Wilson's press secretary at the conference and later was Wilson's choice to be his biographer.
That said, it is powerful little book that seeks to explain both Wilson's goals AND the innumerable obstacles he faced in trying to craft a truly "peace without victory" agreement in the face of the implacable demands for punishment of Germany by France and Great Britain, the former the country on which almost every costly battle of that long and bloody war had been fought.
In addition, Wilson's dreams of "self-determination" flew in the face of those countries desire to not only hang onto their existing colonies, but to also grab some of defeated Germany's colonial possessions.
I recommend it for a first-hand, intimate view of both what could have been, as well as an intriguing expose of how the skullduggery of empire, colonialism, and an adherence to "balance-of-power" thinking was doomed to frustrate Wilson's noblest hopes.
But Wilson tried, and that is the purpose of this book: to explain how hard the man fought and for what noble purposes.
While I have always admired Wilson for his vision of a more peaceful and harmonious post-world order, I do not ignore his racist feelings towards people of color nor his crucial mistakes in his efforts to secure a just peace treaty. Among the latter were his determination to lead the conference negotiations himself, rather than to have others do so for him thus providing him with some valuable "space" to maneuver, as well as his failure to woo the Republicans who had won control of Congress in the 1918 elections. While Senator Lodge would have remained his implacable opponent in any case, he should have worked to "soften up" the opposition by including key Republicans in his peace conference delegation.
Ah, but the might-have-beens and should-have-been-dones are ALWAYS clearer in retrospect, aren't they?
A fine little book one can read in but an evening or two.
A couple of years ago I read his remarkable autobiography -- Chronicles -- and highly recommend that as well for he writes in a candid, hold-nothing-back way that is gripping and powerful.
This little book was first published in 1919, after the conclusion of the Versailles Peace Conference that sought to end World War I but before the US Senate's final rejection of that treaty, including Woodrow Wilson's prize, membership in the League of Nations.
Baker is hardly a neutral figure in this. He was Wilson's press secretary at the conference and later was Wilson's choice to be his biographer.
That said, it is powerful little book that seeks to explain both Wilson's goals AND the innumerable obstacles he faced in trying to craft a truly "peace without victory" agreement in the face of the implacable demands for punishment of Germany by France and Great Britain, the former the country on which almost every costly battle of that long and bloody war had been fought.
In addition, Wilson's dreams of "self-determination" flew in the face of those countries desire to not only hang onto their existing colonies, but to also grab some of defeated Germany's colonial possessions.
I recommend it for a first-hand, intimate view of both what could have been, as well as an intriguing expose of how the skullduggery of empire, colonialism, and an adherence to "balance-of-power" thinking was doomed to frustrate Wilson's noblest hopes.
But Wilson tried, and that is the purpose of this book: to explain how hard the man fought and for what noble purposes.
While I have always admired Wilson for his vision of a more peaceful and harmonious post-world order, I do not ignore his racist feelings towards people of color nor his crucial mistakes in his efforts to secure a just peace treaty. Among the latter were his determination to lead the conference negotiations himself, rather than to have others do so for him thus providing him with some valuable "space" to maneuver, as well as his failure to woo the Republicans who had won control of Congress in the 1918 elections. While Senator Lodge would have remained his implacable opponent in any case, he should have worked to "soften up" the opposition by including key Republicans in his peace conference delegation.
Ah, but the might-have-beens and should-have-been-dones are ALWAYS clearer in retrospect, aren't they?
A fine little book one can read in but an evening or two.
Displaying 1 of 1 review