Thursday, February 19, 2015
Wilson
by A. Scott Berg
I picked up this book with prejudice. You see, in my younger years, all I knew about Woodrow Wilson that he was president during World War I and had been credited with some progressive reforms. Then I read Lies My Teacher Told Me, which has a nice little section on Woodrow Wilson. After that, I knew that Wilson was a racist @#$!% president during World War I and had been credited with some progressive reforms. So I wasn't all that excited when I got to this biography in my reading list.
But words have the power to change minds. Mr. Berg didn't deny, or seek to excuse Wilson's racist views, nor did he dwell on them. He simply accepted Wilson and his society as they were and told the tale of his life. The portrait he painted was one of a great man. Not a saint, but rather as a man who attempted and accomplished a lot in his lifetime. The book does an excellent job of recounting Wilson's life and the world around him. I could easily relate to and empathize with Thomas Woodrow Wilson from childhood through his career in academia, his political years, his role on the world stage, and finally to his final years as "a broken piece of machinery". I'd still like to travel back 100 years and present Wilson with an Obama bumper sticker, but I think that after reading Wilson, I'd also have to thank him for those reforms he accomplished and his advocacy for peace.
Really, check it out. This has to be one of the best biographies I've read.
LibraryThing link
I picked up this book with prejudice. You see, in my younger years, all I knew about Woodrow Wilson that he was president during World War I and had been credited with some progressive reforms. Then I read Lies My Teacher Told Me, which has a nice little section on Woodrow Wilson. After that, I knew that Wilson was a racist @#$!% president during World War I and had been credited with some progressive reforms. So I wasn't all that excited when I got to this biography in my reading list.
But words have the power to change minds. Mr. Berg didn't deny, or seek to excuse Wilson's racist views, nor did he dwell on them. He simply accepted Wilson and his society as they were and told the tale of his life. The portrait he painted was one of a great man. Not a saint, but rather as a man who attempted and accomplished a lot in his lifetime. The book does an excellent job of recounting Wilson's life and the world around him. I could easily relate to and empathize with Thomas Woodrow Wilson from childhood through his career in academia, his political years, his role on the world stage, and finally to his final years as "a broken piece of machinery". I'd still like to travel back 100 years and present Wilson with an Obama bumper sticker, but I think that after reading Wilson, I'd also have to thank him for those reforms he accomplished and his advocacy for peace.
Really, check it out. This has to be one of the best biographies I've read.
LibraryThing link
Labels: CheckItOut, PresidentialBioReadingList
// posted by John @ 10:44 PM 
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