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Woodrow Wilson: A Biography
The first major biography of America’s twenty-eighth president in nearly two decades, from one of America’s foremost Woodrow Wilson scholars.
A Democrat who reclaimed the White House after sixteen years of Republican administrations, Wilson was a transformative president—he helped create the regulatory bodies and legislation that prefigured FDR’s New Deal and would prove ce...more
A Democrat who reclaimed the White House after sixteen years of Republican administrations, Wilson was a transformative president—he helped create the regulatory bodies and legislation that prefigured FDR’s New Deal and would prove ce...more
Hardcover, 704 pages
Published
November 3rd 2009
by Knopf
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This was a really fine biography, although I am not sure how much I like Wilson after reading it. I started reading this when I heard some fairly extreme pundits starting to trash Wilson. I realized that while I did not wish to agree with the pundit, I was not as informed about Wilson as I thought I was. I had read the most about his diplomacy, especially his role in the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 and the his failures around the League of Nations. I was much less aware of his background,...more
A very nice biography of Woodrow Wilson. He began his adult career as an academic, became President of Princeton University, was elected governor of New Jersey, and--finally--he was elected President of the United States. He was not just an ordinary academic either, but the author of journal articles and books that were--for the time--well reputed. A political scientist who became elected to political office. . . .
The book follows him through his life course. It portrays his strength...more
The book follows him through his life course. It portrays his strength...more
It is hard to doubt that Cooper's book is now the definitive biography of Wilson: professors from Harvard, Brown, and Yale gave it this accolade in their reviews. These and other critics tended to praise Cooper for disentangling Wilson from the contemporary use and abuse of his legacy; as Cooper puts it, the 28th president "was no Wilsonian, just Woodrow Wilson." Reviewers were also impressed by Cooper's chapters on the ample domestic agenda of a president normally remembered for forei...more
Eric
marked it as to-read
The NYTimes review made Cooper sound like a professional Wilson booster-apologist, member of one of those scholarly cheering sections, perennially urging reevaluation, which every one of our presidents seems to boast. My taste in presidents, aside from the pivotal empire-builders and empire-savers like Lincoln and FDR, runs more to the con-men (JFK) and the crazies (Nixon) who've noir-ishly helmed the state; I'm also getting interested in the great failures, so I think I'm due for a Wilson biogr...more
At times a bit boring but a very comprehensive view of the academic who would become president. Very socialist and progressive his ideas didn't seem to always have connection to real people though surprisingly he could connect to them. Seems to be very self-confident and assured of his ideas even when those around him are not so sure but that made him the leader. A bit scary at the end of his life when he was medically not competent to continue as president but his wife and those close to him ma...more
The first 120 pages of this biography were so boring that after several unexpected naps, I very nearly gave it up. I don't know whether to blame the author or the subject. Reading about Wilson's writings about political theory and his concerns about where student housing should be located at Princeton University is pretty dull stuff to follow after reading the Edmund Morris trilogy about Theodore Roosevelt shooting moose, elephants, tapirs, and Spaniards. Once we get to Wilson's New Jersey Gov...more
Embarrassingly here are the new things I learned from this 600 page book that I’ll likely retain five years hence:
• The ex-president used to go by his birth name of Tommy Wilson.
• He was a big baseball fan. Obviously before the Houston Astros ruined the sport for many of us.
• He almost took his first academic post at the University of Arkansas before they rescinded the offer! (way to go Hogs…or Cardinals or whatever you were called in those days)
If anyone’s st...more
• The ex-president used to go by his birth name of Tommy Wilson.
• He was a big baseball fan. Obviously before the Houston Astros ruined the sport for many of us.
• He almost took his first academic post at the University of Arkansas before they rescinded the offer! (way to go Hogs…or Cardinals or whatever you were called in those days)
If anyone’s st...more
Woodrow Wilson: A Biography, a wonderful work of scholarship, is aptly subtitled. Cooper focuses on Wilson's entire life and seems determined to get that story just right. Thus, the author picks no fights in this cautious tale. Mostly, I found that refreshing. Cooper is clearly a fan of Wilson's, but no apologist. Thus, he doesn't minimize Wilson's racial attitudes and fairly places the blame for the WWI Treaty's American failure at Wilson's doorstep.
Cooper is much taken with Wi...more
Cooper is much taken with Wi...more
Good book. Wilson had a lot of flaws: racist (who wasn't back then?), self-righteous. But he busted his ass and seemed to have, for the most part, a decent moral compass (aside from racism and anti-civil libertarian positions). I liked very much how much he appreciated the need to have ALL Americans involved in the First World War. The idea that only a small number of people would be inconvenienced by the war effort was not his way. His League of Nations was a failure, and that was largely ...more
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An interesting read for history folks. Apparently very well investigated and put forth in an easy to read manor.
This book confirmed my opinion that Woodrow Wilson was one of the five worst presidents this country ever had. His wishy-washy, head in the clouds, anglo saxon mindset and very poor cabinet selections led this country into what was called the first world war. A war that was none of our business and because of our intervention upset the balance of power in Europe which led to the...more
This book confirmed my opinion that Woodrow Wilson was one of the five worst presidents this country ever had. His wishy-washy, head in the clouds, anglo saxon mindset and very poor cabinet selections led this country into what was called the first world war. A war that was none of our business and because of our intervention upset the balance of power in Europe which led to the...more
Wilson was a scholarly, reflective man. My admiration for him grew as I learned about his relentless efforts to keep the U.S. out of WWI, to win over the public when war became unavoidable and to establish a League of Nations. Cooper covers Wilson’s public and political life comprehensively, but he doesn’t round out the portrait by providing much detail about his personal life. I was surprised to learn how much time Wilson spent with his wife, even during the war. They frequently played golf...more
599 pages done! I can't say I read every word, but up until the last nine pages, I had read at least a line from every paragraph. I am grateful to be done with this book. I read it for a book group and though I admit I got engrossed at times with some of the details--it had too many details and it ruined to flow of the story. Unlike others that I discussed the book with, I actually lost some of the respect I had for Woodrow Wilson as a president by the end. I may be being to hard on him, an...more
The author is obviously a fan of Wilson, but he's not afraid to criticize the man either, which makes this book a fairly balanced account. The writing style can be quite dry, but the subject could be as well, so perhaps that's fitting. That aside, the book is very informative, and a good resource if you're looking for a single-volume history of one of our more accomplished presidents.
This was a good book, but I found myself losing interest as WWI was winding down. Maybe I'd been reading it for too long, but my curiosity about Wilson died. Or maybe it was just satisfied.
At any rate, my sense of Wilson as a humorless pedant is shot all to pieces. He was a far more interesting man, more progressive and more intelligent than I'd thought.
At any rate, my sense of Wilson as a humorless pedant is shot all to pieces. He was a far more interesting man, more progressive and more intelligent than I'd thought.
This is an accessible and balanced view of Wilson's life and his performance as the US president. I would recommend it to anyone interested in Woodrow Wilson, US presidential biographies, WWI and early 20th century events of the world.
I learned that the world has changed little in a century. In the US, government and corporations are still too tightly allied. War is never good although sometimes necessary. However, avoiding it is in the best interest of everyone.
Wilson wa...more
I learned that the world has changed little in a century. In the US, government and corporations are still too tightly allied. War is never good although sometimes necessary. However, avoiding it is in the best interest of everyone.
Wilson wa...more
Well written and very interesting look into the life of Woodrow Wilson. However, I thought the book dragged on at times, especially when describing the debate over the ratification of The Treaty of Versailles. I also feel, unlike other presidential biographies, Wilson did not really explore Wilson the man, but more Wilson the student, academic, and politician. What sort of emotions went into his decisions and ideas? I supposed I am being unfair and comparing Cooper's writing to that of McCulloug...more
While Woodrow is not my favorite Pres., I am looking forward to this bio by Cooper.
This is a very well-researched and detailed biography. However, I think that Cooper frequently looks the other way when evaluating many of Wilson's actions, motives, and policies. I came away with the impression that Wilson was a racist. He was also an idealist, which ultimately helped him destroy his own presidency and his campaign for the League of Nations. His obsession with the League of Nations, and his ambivalence to race riots in 1919 and the subsequent Palmer Raids is disturbing.
Well written. Wilson is presented as a heroic, idealist and tragic figure. His story sadly bears many parallels to the political fights our president faces today.
Adrian
rated it
Wilson is a man of contradictions. A racist who advocated for women's suffrage and arguable opposed Prohibition, a reformer and a devout Presbyterian, an idealist and opportunist in equal measure. This biography clears up a lot about his life.
A necessary and very helpful book, about an all-too-human president.
A necessary and very helpful book, about an all-too-human president.
Norma
added it
An extensive well-documented biography of President Wilson. Especially interesting to read more about World War I, Wilson's attempts to negotiate a peace treaty, and his efforts to bring the League of Nations into being. The partisan politics then is remarkably like what is going on now in our Congress.
This is well worth your time. I've always been interested in Wilson given his intellectual bent, and this will stand as the standard biography for generations. At almost 600 pages this is one long haul, but in all that time it never once got boring.
Very scholarly work; Glad I read it but the author could have been much more concise in the telling of the story of Woodrow Wilson.
Erich
added it
Never overwhelmingly exciting but definitely interesting.
Publicserviceradio
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