Rating: 
Summary: An Important Addition to Any Reader's Collection
Review: Kennedy's masterful look at World War I society in America proves to rank among the best accounts of the early twentieth century. He covers those who joined the war effort, the war effort at home and abroad, and the various issues relative to the Wilson Administration in terms of effectiveness and quality with a certain sophisticated nature that makes this work a must-have for undergraduate and/or graduate level U.S. history classes. Kennedy's obvious strengths are evident in his coverage of war and the Wilson administration yet it must be noted that his lack of bias must also be taken as a strength.
Rating:
Summary: All Quiet on the US Front
Review: The irony of war tugs at the souls of those who have not actually experienced it. David Kennedy's OVER HERE: THE FIRST WORLD WAR AND AMERICAN SOCIETY is a good social and cultural assessment of what occurred on American soil during World War I. American nationalism prevailed, and the United States emerged from its isolationism to help their European brethrens from German invasion. Despite the patriotic pomp and circumstance and extreme volunteerism by more than 50,000 young American men who became a part of independent armies that helped to form the American Expeditionary Force (AEF), the war ended with much disappointment both politically and economically as well as the loss of a generation from the European and US front.
OVER THERE is a comprehensive study, at this point, for its genre and focus on American society. It crosses the boundaries between literary and historical significance during this period in American history known as the Great War. Kennedy did a fine job sifting through archives of material to present an exceptional and readable piece of scholarship that helps readers understand the social aspects of World War I and the period of 1917-1919. He covers most of the major issues that have typified the war and the aftermath of the war, such as nationalism, repressed dissent, disillusionment, and xenophobia. This was the first modernized and mechanized war that simply was not fully prepared for its consquences. This was the period in which mass communication played a significant role in communicating both views of the war from Progressives, Populists to pacificists -- propaganda came into vogue with mass publications and depictions of the "enemy" as well as the "doughboys".
This is a highly recommended book that concentrates on the US homefront, and occassionally refers to the war front. It supplements previous and current research that explores the war that, unfortunately, was not the war to end all wars. However, for those who did not return, their legacy is embedded in history as well as frozen in time. The war dead would later be symbolized through complex postmodern interpretations and proportions, and collective memory for those who survived.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent
Review: This is a fine work by the author of the Pulitzer winning "Freedom from Fear". In this book, Prof. Kennedy provides a thematic overview of the American experience in WWI. This is not a narrative history but an analysis of several important aspects of that experience. Topics include the effect of entry into the war and the war experience on the Progressive Movement; the impact of the war on the American economy, the American Labor movement, and the Federal Government; the experience of organizing the large army; the efforts to plan for a postwar world; and the ultimate failure of Wilson's efforts to make the US the leader of benign international order. Kennedy shows very well how the debate over war entry and splintered the Progressive movement. The suppression of dissent during and after the war dealt a serious blow to reformers and the liberal-left movement that had been the prewar engine of reform. Government efforts during the war were characterized by efforts to persuade business rather than developing a centralized economy, though central planning and coercion would probably have been necessary if the war had continued. There is a particularly good chapter on American efforts to use the war to establish American preeminence in international trade, followed by American withdrawal from that role. One defect of the book is that the thematic organization of the chapters leaves some important points unconnected. For example, in an early chapter Kennedy argues cogently that the turn to the right that accompanied the war, encouraged by his administration, would rob him ultimately of important allies for supporting his internationalism in the postwar period. At the end of the book, he makes similar points about Wilson's conduct towards European Liberal-Left movements but these two complementary points are never connected explicitly. Kennedy is an excellent writer and this book contains a great deal of first rate analysis. Recommended strongly.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: This is a fine work by the author of the Pulitzer winning "Freedom from Fear". In this book, Prof. Kennedy provides a thematic overview of the American experience in WWI. This is not a narrative history but an analysis of several important aspects of that experience. Topics include the effect of entry into the war and the war experience on the Progressive Movement; the impact of the war on the American economy, the American Labor movement, and the Federal Government; the experience of organizing the large army; the efforts to plan for a postwar world; and the ultimate failure of Wilson's efforts to make the US the leader of benign international order. Kennedy shows very well how the debate over war entry and splintered the Progressive movement. The suppression of dissent during and after the war dealt a serious blow to reformers and the liberal-left movement that had been the prewar engine of reform. Government efforts during the war were characterized by efforts to persuade business rather than developing a centralized economy, though central planning and coercion would probably have been necessary if the war had continued. There is a particularly good chapter on American efforts to use the war to establish American preeminence in international trade, followed by American withdrawal from that role. One defect of the book is that the thematic organization of the chapters leaves some important points unconnected. For example, in an early chapter Kennedy argues cogently that the turn to the right that accompanied the war, encouraged by his administration, would rob him ultimately of important allies for supporting his internationalism in the postwar period. At the end of the book, he makes similar points about Wilson's conduct towards European Liberal-Left movements but these two complementary points are never connected explicitly. Kennedy is an excellent writer and this book contains a great deal of first rate analysis. Recommended strongly.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: This is a fine work by the author of the Pulitzer winning "Freedom from Fear". In this book, Prof. Kennedy provides a thematic overview of the American experience in WWI. This is not a narrative history but an analysis of several important aspects of that experience. Topics include the effect of entry into the war and the war experience on the Progressive Movement; the impact of the war on the American economy, the American Labor movement, and the Federal Government; the experience of organizing the large army; the efforts to plan for a postwar world; and the ultimate failure of Wilson's efforts to make the US the leader of benign international order. Kennedy shows very well how the debate over war entry and splintered the Progressive movement. The suppression of dissent during and after the war dealt a serious blow to reformers and the liberal-left movement that had been the prewar engine of reform. Government efforts during the war were characterized by efforts to persuade business rather than developing a centralized economy, though central planning and coercion would probably have been necessary if the war had continued. There is a particularly good chapter on American efforts to use the war to establish American preeminence in international trade, followed by American withdrawal from that role. One defect of the book is that the thematic organization of the chapters leaves some important points unconnected. For example, in an early chapter Kennedy argues cogently that the turn to the right that accompanied the war, encouraged by his administration, would rob him ultimately of important allies for supporting his internationalism in the postwar period. At the end of the book, he makes similar points about Wilson's conduct towards European Liberal-Left movements but these two complementary points are never connected explicitly. Kennedy is an excellent writer and this book contains a great deal of first rate analysis. Recommended strongly.
Rating:
Summary: Has contemporary relevance
Review: This is a good book about the First World War and American society. For a general description, see Roger Albin's review of June, 25 2000. I want to say a few words on an aspect of the book mentioned but not explained in seydlitz89's review of June 30, 1999--that the war "was an affair of the mind." It refers to Woodrow Wilson's need to overcome American disunity on the question of American involvement. As the author explains, Wilson needed to shape public opinion and to crush dissent to achieve his goals. Thus he embarked on his statist program of parades and propaganda, extreme patriotic rhetoric, moralistic calls to bring democracy to the world, free speech restrictions, police-state crackdowns on and government-sanctioned vigilantism against radical groups and draft-dodgers. As someone with an interest in the themes and paradoxes in American culture, I find the author's treatment of this war for the American mind to be utterly fascinating. It illuminates much about the the nature of America and the deep undercurrents in American thought that made the country so vulnerable to Wilson's calls for sacrifice. The author's discussion of the draft is a case in point. He quotes one government official of the time as saying after the war that "Conscription in America was not . . . drafting of the unwilling. The citizens themselves had willingly come forward and pledged their service." As there was mass draft resistance, this statement is misleading; but it is true enough: many, many men *did* voluntarily register. And one of the reasons why is contained in the statement's last word: "service." Insightfully, the author notes that it was in large part this ideal of "service" that enabled the government to sell the war to the American people. The word itself exploited a fundamental tension in American society: that between individualism and collectivism. By "at once connoting the autonomy of the individual will and the obligation of the individual to serve a sphere wider than his own," he says, this "fittingly ambivalent term" bridged and reconciled the two value systems. The draft was not called "Selective Service" for nothing. In our own age of government-promoted "volunteerism," such works of history as this book are not without contemporary relevance.
Rating:
Summary: Has contemporary relevance
Review: This is a good book about the First World War and American society. For a general description, see Roger Albin's review of June, 25 2000. I want to say a few words on an aspect of the book mentioned but not explained in seydlitz89's review of June 30, 1999--that the war "was an affair of the mind." It refers to Woodrow Wilson's need to overcome American disunity on the question of American involvement. As the author explains, Wilson needed to shape public opinion and to crush dissent to achieve his goals. Thus he embarked on his statist program of parades and propaganda, extreme patriotic rhetoric, moralistic calls to bring democracy to the world, free speech restrictions, police-state crackdowns on and government-sanctioned vigilantism against radical groups and draft-dodgers. As someone with an interest in the themes and paradoxes in American culture, I find the author's treatment of this war for the American mind to be utterly fascinating. It illuminates much about the the nature of America and the deep undercurrents in American thought that made the country so vulnerable to Wilson's calls for sacrifice. The author's discussion of the draft is a case in point. He quotes one government official of the time as saying after the war that "Conscription in America was not . . . drafting of the unwilling. The citizens themselves had willingly come forward and pledged their service." As there was mass draft resistance, this statement is misleading; but it is true enough: many, many men *did* voluntarily register. And one of the reasons why is contained in the statement's last word: "service." Insightfully, the author notes that it was in large part this ideal of "service" that enabled the government to sell the war to the American people. The word itself exploited a fundamental tension in American society: that between individualism and collectivism. By "at once connoting the autonomy of the individual will and the obligation of the individual to serve a sphere wider than his own," he says, this "fittingly ambivalent term" bridged and reconciled the two value systems. The draft was not called "Selective Service" for nothing. In our own age of government-promoted "volunteerism," such works of history as this book are not without contemporary relevance.
Rating:
Summary: A very important book for Americans in the 20th Century
Review: This not only an excellent book, but it contains stories and information that are critical to understanding the United States in the First World War. The trends and events of this rather short period (1917-1919) shaped much of the rest of the Century. Highly recommended not only for military history fans, but for anyone wishing to understand American society in the 20th Century. Kennedy has brought up many important points, including the role of government in the lives of Americans, and the control of the media: all issues of critical importance as we move on to the next century. Some of the events of those "far gone" times are bone-chilling, as we read about them 80 or so years along (and I'm not talking about life in the trenches of Europe!). Highly recommended.
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