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Summary
Summary
On February 15, 1898, the American ship USS Maine mysteriously exploded in the Havana Harbor. News of the blast quickly reached U.S. shores, where it was met by some not with alarm but great enthusiasm.
A powerful group of war lovers agitated that the United States exert its muscle across the seas. Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Cabot Lodge were influential politicians dismayed by the "closing" of the Western frontier. William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal falsely heralded that Spain's "secret infernal machine" had destroyed the battleship as Hearst himself saw great potential in whipping Americans into a frenzy. The Maine would provide the excuse they'd been waiting for.
On the other side were Roosevelt's former teacher, philosopher William James, and his friend and political ally, Thomas Reed, the powerful Speaker of the House. Both foresaw a disaster. At stake was not only sending troops to Cuba and the Philippines, Spain's sprawling colony on the other side of the world-but the friendships between these men.
Now, bestselling historian Evan Thomas brings us the full story of this monumental turning point in American history. Epic in scope and revelatory in detail, The War Lovers takes us from Boston mansions to the halls of Congress to the beaches of Cuba and the jungles of the Philippines. It is landmark work with an unforgettable cast of characters-and provocative relevance to today.
Author Notes
Evan Thomas is the author of several bestselling works of history and biography, including The War Lovers and Sea of Thunder . He was a writer and editor at Time and Newsweek for more than 30 years, and he is frequently a commentator on television and radio. He teaches at Princeton University and lives in Washington, D.C.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
America acquired an empire in a fit of neurosis, according to this shrewd, caustic psychological interpretation of the Spanish-American War by well-known. Newsweek editor and bestselling author Thomas (Sea of Thunder). The book focuses on three leading war-mongers-Teddy Roosevelt, his crony, Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge, and newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, whose fanciful New York Journal coverage of the Cuban insurrection and the sinking of the USS Maine fanned war hysteria. Ashamed of their fathers' failure to fight in the Civil War, according to Thomas, these righteous sons trumped up a pointless conflict with Spain as a test of manhood, conflating the personal with the national. To Thomas they represent an American ruling elite imbued with notions of Anglo-Saxon supremacy over alien races and lower orders, but anxious about its own monied softness. As foils, Thomas offers Thomas Brackett Reed, the antiwar speaker of the House, and philosopher William James, who advanced an ethic of moral courage against the Rooseveltian cult of physical aggression.Thomas's thesis is bold and will undoubtedly be controversial, but his protagonists make for rich psychological portraiture, and the book serves as an illuminating case study in the sociocultural underpinnings of American military adventurism. 45 b&w photos, 2 maps. (Apr. 27) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
Through the Spanish-American War of 1898, Thomas' newest history shows the pro-war stances of three historical figures (Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt, and publisher William Randolph Hearst) and the anti-war attitudes of two others (Speaker of the House Thomas Reed and philosopher William James). Attaining adulthood following the Civil War, each one developed some conception of war through America's living memories of that conflict, which Thomas refracts through the man's familial or social milieus. Whether or not TR's rage militaire was psychological compensation for a father who avoided combat in the Civil War, it certainly resonated with a public entertained by Hearst's yellow-press sensationalism. Embroidering the tenor of the times with prevalent attitudes of Anglo-Saxon ascendancy, Thomas has James comment, appalled, on the war fever of 1898 as his narrative ascends its crest of the Rough Riders' uphill charge in Cuba. Survivors such as TR, however, were exhilarated by the battle's test of their bravery and their nation's vitality, all emblematic of a historical zeitgeist that Thomas well captures with his customary fluidity.--Taylor, Gilbert Copyright 2010 Booklist
Choice Review
As war fever with the Spanish over Cuba reached its height in the late 1890s, the work and influence of three men--Theodore Roosevelt, Henry Cabot Lodge, and William Randolph Hearst-- contributed to a war hysteria that led to military interventions in Cuba and the Philippines. Newsweek editor Thomas (Robert Kennedy: A Life, CH, Jul'01, 38-6406) reveals how these men and other elitists often acted in concert--and individually--after the sinking of the Maine to ensure that war occurred. Speaker of the House Thomas Reed and some others resisted the rush to war. As an unsung hero for peace, Reed stood against a tidal wave of jingoism and expansionism (lest anyone label it imperialism) as the US entered the modern era of colonial acquisition. The Spanish American War may be thought of as a prelude to the other wars waiting in the wings; to Thomas, the war with Spain "was a harbinger, if not the model, of modern American wars ... [with] eerie parallels to the invasion of Iraq." The sinking of the Maine, national security, the Gulf of Tonkin incident, and a contrived weapons-of-mass-destruction issue have much in common. Read this thoughtful book along with Joshua David Hawley's Theodore Roosevelt: Preacher of Righteousness (CH, Feb'09, 46-3443). Summing Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries. P. D. Travis Texas Woman's University
Library Journal Review
Rather than provide a strict history of the Spanish-American War of 1898, Thomas (asst. managing editor, Newsweek; Sea of Thunder) focuses on a half-dozen major players, including two who opposed it. Thomas has done yeoman research on America's first war after the Civil War (with the underlying influence of that war on the men in this story a leitmotif). The personal and political relationship between Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Cabot Lodge takes up much space. A third character is media mogul William Randolph Hearst, who stirred popular war support through his yellow journalism. The main foil to these three imperialists was the powerful speaker of the house, Thomas Reed, who was eventually doomed by the frenzy that Hearst and others had whipped up. William James, the philosopher, and William McKinley were the proverbial men caught in the middle-James ambivalent about action heroes and war and McKinley a typical politician who caved to public opinion. VERDICT While most Spanish-American War histories focus on the military angle, this engaging book humanizes the conflict by also providing useful insights regarding the political and academic leaders of the time, allowing the war to resonate with later American adventures abroad and with the dilemma of reconciling American ideals with a new global world. Highly recommended.-William D. Pederson, Louisiana State Univ., Shreveport (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.