America Enters the World: A People's History of the Progressive Era and World War I

In America Enters the World, Page Smith recreates a masterful account of the Progressive Era. He does not follow a strict chronological path (though there is more or less a sequence of events) but once the reader gets accustomed, it flows pretty well. Smith makes clever use of colloquialisms ("skedaddled" "smashed"-meaning drunk, and "skulduggery" are but a few) which helps make the reader feel comfortable. Finally he states his thesis on page 140 (barely 1/10 of the way through the massive book) of viewing history as a part of a larger whole.Smith often extols the virtues of socialism as the great counterbalance of industrial capitalism, which since this is a "people's history" makes some sense. He has the ability to enter the shoies of those he writes of, an admirable trait in a historian. However, at times he gets carried away with the socialist undercurrents, sometimes to the point of annoyance. He does give great leaders like Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson their just dues, and comes down hard on stupid leaders like William Howard Taft and Warren Harding, and this gives the book balance. Unfortunately by giving lengthy accounts of the doings of Big Bill Haywood and Emma Goldman Smith seems to elevate these people to the unwarranted level of greatness as well. The Roosevelt-Wilson rivalry is the most dominant political theme in the book. Smith admires them both, Roosevelt for his populism, Wilson for his vision, and he covers each objectively and fair.Smith never cites his sources so it is difficult to verify, but the reader learns to trust Smith as an authority on his subject. He makes an un-stated advocation of how committees served the country well in winning World War One, then attempts to illustrate how the Soviet Union emerged as a model of efficiency ("soviet" is defined as a governmental council). He makes great progress in some chapters then takes one step back with his unwavering advocacy of the socialist state. He seems to fall victim to his own conclusion on page 642 that "obsessions make bad politics".But Smith is able to recognize genius when he sees it. Wilson's vision was the apex of the Progressive Era. When the unqualified Harding assumed the presidency, Smith ends his historical narrative. It is clear to Smith that Harding did not represent "progress" (one could conclude Harding didn't represent anything). The final several chapters are dedicated to technology, arts, education, and religion. He covers the American scene. Racism, bigotry, women's rights, philanthropy, mainstream and side stream politics, war, peace, industry, and many other themes are all handled with equal care by this prolific, intelligent author. His conclusion is well supported and his mastery of English would impress any wordsmith.

It is a sad commentary on public literacy and civic awareness when a whole series of books so splendid, educational, and damned readable is allowed to go out of print, such as has the quite literate eight book series by noted historian Page Smith. This massive and spectacularly executed series is organized around the continuing themes of American History, and centers on our emergence into the larger world as a main player in the world community. This is modern history at its best; masterfully retold, entertaining and edifying to read, and organized around central themes that make the subject both approachable and more understandable. The present volume, "America Enters The World: A People's History Of The Progressive Era and World War I", is the seventh of an eight volume series Professor Smith published, and represents the culmination of the series in approaching the entry into the 20th century and the modern era after masterfully threading through the mass of American history. Dr. Smith begins here focuses on two key figures, a dynamic and energetic Theodore Roosevelt, on the one hand, and an austere, professorial, and intellectual Woodrow Wilson, on the other. With Roosevelt's gravitation to the Oval Office, an incredibly turbulent and event-packed two decades of momentous change commences, marked for such tumultuous struggles as the battle between management and labor, and the emerging progressive political movement.This was also the period of international reawakening that found the United States increasingly drawn into world events, culminating in our reluctant and begrudging participation in the First World War. Of course, initially it was Roosevelt swinging that `big stick' of power and enthusiastic involvement, swaggering confidently onto the world stage that first opened our doors to increasing involvement in international affairs. Yet, it was much more Woodrow Wilson's intellectual thoughtfulness that led directly to our enthusiastic flag-waving yet fateful entry into the growing darkness of the world war. In due time, the enthusiasm flagged, turning to disillusionment and an increased national mood of isolationism. In twenty short years, we had seemingly come full circle. Yet things had changed, changed utterly, and would never be the same again. As with his previous volumes, Professor Smith guides us masterfully through the particulars of the lives of a stream of extraordinary people, individuals who rose to the manifest challenges of the era with energy, imagination, and selfless enthusiasm. In so doing, they reshaped and redefined the meaning and possibilities for America, and eventually helped in the effort to transform the world in the process. As with each of his previous volumes, the author uses his narrative to tell the story of individuals both famous and anonymous, and in so doing helps the reader to better appreciate what it meant to be alive and involved in one of the most amazing

This is the 7th of the 8 volume history which the late Page Smith (he died Aug 28, 1995) wrote on the history of this country. I have not read the 8th volume, but it is not correct to say it is a 10,000 page history. The first 7 volumes only have a total of 6,823 pages. My comment on finishing volume 7 was "I'd say about 5000 of the 6823 pages were really interesting reading." One of these days I want to find volume 8 and read it so that I will have read the whole set. Nor do I agree that this work was what Professor Smith devoted his life to. He has a two-volume biography of John Adams which I am going to read some day, I hope. (I know exactly the library where I can borrow it and I have been planning to do so for years--and some day I will.)

This series is an all-encompassing narrative of our history from pre-colonial times to the twentieth century. Smith spent over 50 years as an academic and popular historian, and his life's work was A People's History. The series is written in an engaging but detailed style -- only two or three times in over 10,000 pages does it become difficult to read. Smith obviously had digested large volumes of primary source material, because his explanations of events often reach far before and after the events, linking them insightfully with their deep causes and effects. An author who writes piecemeal from one source at a time could never make those kinds of deep connections.Smith also remains balanced and fair througout the text. He is not a liberal critical historian (like Howard Zinn), but even more importantly, he is not one of the newer conservative historians (like Russel Kirk). Smith manages to avoid the two extremes of paranoia and zealotry.I was initially disappointed at the lack of footnotes in the text, but I did come to trust in Smith's philosophy that if a point were well-worth making *and* well-supported, he would make the point in the text itself, thereby eschewing what he felt was an underhanded academic trick of making footnotes of ill-supported assertions or attacks on other schools of thought.The end-notes and indices are more than adequate for researchers and critical readers.All in all, this series is the best way I've found to really understand American history as more than a sequence of events, characters, and trends. Smith weaves them together into a coherent story.