First published 2003
Margaret MacMillan examines the pivotal peace negotiations that followed World War I, when world leaders gathered in Paris between January and July 1919 to redraw the global map. She focuses on the key figures who shaped these discussions: Woodrow Wilson, the American president whose Fourteen Points promised self-determination but whose idealism clashed with practical politics; David Lloyd George, the cunning British prime minister who brought Winston Churchill and John Maynard Keynes to the negotiations; and other influential participants like Lawrence of Arabia and a young Ho Chi Minh. MacMillan argues that these peacemakers have been unfairly blamed for later conflicts, particularly World War II. She challenges the common belief that German reparations directly caused the second global war and demonstrates how the negotiators grappled with issues that remain relevant today, including the creation of Iraq, Yugoslavia, and Israel. The book reveals how these six months transformed Paris into the world's center of power as empires crumbled and new nations emerged from their ruins.
Genres: history, 20th-century, academic, american-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: historical-figures, political-intrigue
Setting: PARIS, IRAQ, YUGOSLAVIA, ISRAEL
Period: 1919
624 pages · Paperback · Random House Trade