Synopses & Reviews
Written with the sweep of an epic novel and grounded in extensive research into contemporary documents, andlt;iandgt;Savage Peaceandlt;/iandgt; is a striking portrait of American democracy under stress. It is the surprising story of America in the year 1919. andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt; In the aftermath of an unprecedented worldwide war and a flu pandemic, Americans began the year full of hope, expecting to reap the benefits of peace. But instead, the fear of terrorism filled their days. Bolshevism was the new menace, and the federal government, utilizing a vast network of domestic spies, began to watch anyone deemed suspicious. A young lawyer named J. Edgar Hoover headed a brand-new intelligence division of the Bureau of Investigation (later to become the FBI). Bombs exploded on the doorstep of the attorney general's home in Washington, D.C., and thirty-six parcels containing bombs were discovered at post offices across the country. Poet and journalist Carl Sandburg, recently returned from abroad with a trunk full of Bolshevik literature, was detained in New York, his trunk seized. A twenty-one-year-old Russian girl living in New York was sentenced to fifteen years in prison for protesting U.S. intervention in Arctic Russia, where thousands of American soldiers remained after the Armistice, ostensibly to guard supplies but in reality to join a British force meant to be a warning to the new Bolshevik government. andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt; In 1919, wartime legislation intended to curb criticism of the government was extended and even strengthened. Labor strife was a daily occurrence. And decorated African-American soldiers, returning home to claim the democracy for which they had risked their lives, were badly disappointed. Lynchings continued, race riots would erupt in twenty-six cities before the year ended, and secret agents from the government's "Negro Subversion" unit routinely shadowed outspoken African-Americans. andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt; Adding a vivid human drama to the greater historical narrative, andlt;iandgt;Savage Peaceandlt;/iandgt; brings 1919 alive through the people who played a major role in making the year so remarkable. Among them are William Monroe Trotter, who tried to put democracy for African-Americans on the agenda at the Paris peace talks; Supreme Court associate justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., who struggled to find a balance between free speech and legitimate government restrictions for reasons of national security, producing a memorable decision for the future of free speech in America; and journalist Ray Stannard Baker, confidant of President Woodrow Wilson, who watched carefully as Wilson's idealism crumbled and wrote the best accounts we have of the president's frustration and disappointment. andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt; Weaving together the stories of a panoramic cast of characters, from Albert Einstein to Helen Keller, Ann Hagedorn brilliantly illuminates America at a pivotal moment.
Review
"andlt;iandgt;Savage Peaceandlt;/iandgt; reads like a wondrous and sprawling novel, except that it is all true. Thoroughly researched and insightful, it spins together the fascinating threads of 1919. And what a wonderful cast of characters! From Eddington to Einstein to Du Bois and Wilson, they all come alive. This book is so joyful you'll forget that it's serious history." andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt; -- Walter Isaacson, author of andlt;iandgt;Benjamin Franklin: An American Life and Einstein: His Life and Universeandlt;/iandgt;
Review
"Ann Hagedorn gives us a grand reappraisal of the American context for the andlt;iandgt;Savage Peaceandlt;/iandgt; of 1919. Everyone interested in the path to our present struggles and future alternatives will want to read this splendid and important book." andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt; -- Blanche Wiesen Cook, Professor of History, John Jay College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York; author of andlt;iandgt;Eleanor Rooseveltandlt;/iandgt; and andlt;iandgt;Eleanor Roosevelt: Volume 2, The Defining Years, 1933-1938andlt;/iandgt;
Review
"andlt;iandgt;Savage Peaceandlt;/iandgt; is Ann Hagedorn's brilliantly conceived, meticulously researched, and beautifully written biography of the year 1919. Now we have a historian who is up to the challenge of vividly demonstrating not only 1919's historical significance, but also its political and cultural relevance to us in the era of 9/11 and the Patriot Act." -- William M. Tuttle Jr., author of andlt;iandgt;"Daddy's Gone to War": The Second World War in the Lives of America's Childrenandlt;/iandgt; and andlt;iandgt;Race Riot: Chicago in the Red Summer of 1919andlt;/iandgt;
Synopsis
In this timely book, an acclaimed author examines America in the watershed year 1919, a time when the nation's struggles eerily resembled our problems today. of photos.
About the Author
Ann Hagedorn has been a staff writer for andlt;iandgt;The Wall Street Journalandlt;/iandgt; and has taught writing at Northwestern Universityand#8217;s Medill School of Journalism and at Columbia Universityand#8217;s Graduate School of Journalism. Her previous books are andlt;iandgt;Wild Ride, Ransomandlt;/iandgt;, andlt;iandgt;Beyond the Riverandlt;/iandgt;, and andlt;iandgt;Savage Peaceandlt;/iandgt;.
Table of Contents
Contents
PROLOGUE Armistice Day 1918
PART I WINTER: JUBILATION AND HOPE
CHAPTER 1 Gods of War and Peace
CHAPTER 2 Spies Are Everywhere
CHAPTER 3 Christmas at Villa Lewaro
CHAPTER 4 Women and Molasses
CHAPTER 5 The List
CHAPTER 6 A Mere Slip of a Girl
CHAPTER 7 Polar Bears in Peril
CHAPTER 8 Sergeant Henry Johnson
CHAPTER 9 Trotter and the Passports
CHAPTER 10 The Magisterial Wand
CHAPTER 11 Blinders
CHAPTER 12 Shuffleboard
CHAPTER 13 In Like a Lion
CHAPTER 14 Out Like a Lion
PART II SPRING: FEAR
CHAPTER 15 Inner Light
CHAPTER 16 Make-Believe Riots and Real Bombs
CHAPTER 17 It's in the Mail
CHAPTER 18 Monsieur Trotter
CHAPTER 19 302 Seconds in May
CHAPTER 20 What Happened on R Street
CHAPTER 21 War of a Different Sort
CHAPTER 22 Thrilling Feats
PART III SUMMER: PASSION
CHAPTER 23 Missichusetts
CHAPTER 24 Paris
CHAPTER 25 Independence Day 1919
CHAPTER 26 The Narrow Path
CHAPTER 27 Miss Puffer Insane?
CHAPTER 28 That Certain Point
CHAPTER 29 Weapons in Their Hats
CHAPTER 30 King of the Index
CHAPTER 31 "I'll Stay With You, Mary"
PART IV AUTUMN: STRUGGLE
CHAPTER 32 "The Right to Happiness"
CHAPTER 33 Tugs-of-War and of the Heart
CHAPTER 34 Autumn Leaflets
CHAPTER 35 Not Exactly Paradise
CHAPTER 36 Albert in Wonderland
CHAPTER 37 Greatness
CHAPTER 38 Armistice Day 1919
CHAPTER 39 Falling Ladders
CHAPTER 40 All Aboard
CHAPTER 41 Boughs of Glory
EPILOGUE Endings and Beginnings
Notes on Sources
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Acknowledgments
Index