The United States and the First World War explores how America moved from neutrality to global power during one of the most decisive conflicts of the twentieth century. Beginning with the outbreak of World War I in Europe, the book follows the intense national debate over intervention, the impact of German submarine warfare, the sinking of the Lusitania, and President Woodrow Wilson's decision to enter the war in 1917. It examines the experience of American soldiers in Europe, the idealism of the Fourteen Points, and the difficult peace created by the Treaty of Versailles and the failed League of Nations debate.
The book also traces the powerful aftershocks of the war at home, including the Red Scare, fear of radicalism, Prohibition, jazz culture, the rise of the Roaring Twenties, and the economic optimism that ended with the Wall Street Crash of 1929. Moreover, this fifteenth volume shows how World War I transformed the United States from a cautious neutral nation into a central force in modern world history.