Card catalog data
Wilson by A. Scott Berg (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2013)
About the author: Berg is probably best known for his best-selling biographies of Charles Lindbergh (Lindbergh), Samuel Goldwyn (Goldwyn: A Biography), and Katharyn Hepburn (Kate Remembered).
Category: Biography, U.S. Presidents
Format: I started with a library copy of the hardback, but soon found the book in the bargain sections of both Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million, where I purchased it for $7.97 (original MSRP: $40.00).
Pages: 743 (818 with end matter)
Bottom line: Published 100 years after his inauguration, this book shows that Woodrow Wilson still stands as one of the most important men of the 20th century, as well as one of the most enigmatic.
Why I read this book:
I love biography and history, especially U.S. history, and most especially as it pertains to the presidents. Also I am continuing my long-term goal of reading a biography of each U.S. President in the order they served. (Next up: Warren G. Harding.) I find inspiration and courage in seeing how people handle what is arguably the toughest job in the world. This was my 22nd and last book read in 2015.
What I’ve learned:
Woodrow Wilson was our 27th president (28th if you count Grover Cleveland’s nonconsecutive terms twice), serving 1913-1921. His experience as president of Princeton University and governor of New Jersey seems scant preparation for the job of president of the United States. His nearly two terms in office began well, but his rising opposition and the resistance he faced in the peace conferences after the Great War, both from other countries and from home, took a toll on his health. His dearest objective, to form a League of Nations that would prevent war, never materialized. Nevertheless, he was beloved by the people. Wilson’s progressive ideas paved the way for the New Deal.
Personal application:
Wilson’s stubbornness on some issues and his all-consuming devotion ultimately cost him his health and his life. Sometimes the isolation of leadership positions can cloud our vision of reality and make us compromise when there should be none and be stubborn when we should compromise. And when we take on the martyr syndrome and overwork becomes the norm, we might fizzle out early and have nothing to give later in life.
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
While the writing was good, the book was quite long and filled with day-by-day detail that seemed unnecessary.
Author’s sources:
In addition to hundreds of thousands of documents in the Wilson Archives, Berg was the first biographer to take advantage of newly discovered papers that had belonged to Wilson’s physician (and nearly constant companion) and to one of Wilson’s daughters, Jessie Wilson Sayre.