Over Here: The First World War and American Society

Amazingly detailed look at the American home front in World War I. Although the detail could bog down a casual reader (otherwise making it 4 stars because of readability issues), that detail is also what makes this book fabulous. The author's ability to tease out complex international connections (for example, American incarnations of socialism) as well as talk about domestic responses to those fears (lynching of German Americans in St. Louis and other locations)--among other political, social, and economic contexts he illuminates for the reader--makes this book exceptional. If you want to really know how Americans fought against joining the war, made the turn for supporting intervention, and how the war affected their daily lives back show more in the states, you should look no further. show less

3746. Over Here: The First World War and American Society, by David M. Kennedy (read 18 May 2003) It was Jan 17, 2000 when I read this author's very great prize-winning book, Freedom from Fear: The American Republic in Depression and War 1929-1945. So when I saw this 1980 book of his I wanted to read it. Though there were a few dull chapters, much of the book is of high interest, full of interesting points (e.g., pointing out how things might have been different if Sen. Paul Husting of Wisconsin had not been killed in a hunting accident in October 1917 and the Senate in 1919 had been under Democratic control). Not the tour de force that Freedom from Fear is, but still a good book with much good information in it.

I'm currently reading this so I'm not completely done with it. However, I absolutely love this book thus far. David M. Kennedy is an amazing writer (as seen in his book Freedom From Fear). This book is much smaller than the Freedom From Fear book but no less important. I highly recommend this to anyone interested in the topic.