First published 2019
Margaret MacMillan examines the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, where world leaders gathered for six months to redraw the map of Europe after World War I. American President Woodrow Wilson arrived with his Fourteen Points and dreams of a League of Nations. British Prime Minister David Lloyd George brought advisors like Winston Churchill and John Maynard Keynes. Lawrence of Arabia represented Arab interests while Ho Chi Minh petitioned for Vietnamese independence from his job as a kitchen worker at the Ritz. MacMillan argues that these peacemakers have been unfairly blamed for later conflicts. She challenges the common belief that German reparations caused World War II and defends the conference participants against charges of total failure. The author shows how the negotiators created new nations like Iraq, Yugoslavia, and Israel while sidelining Russia, alienating China, and dismissing Arab claims. MacMillan reveals the personalities and prejudices that shaped modern borders and political arrangements that continue to influence global conflicts today.
Genres: history, 20th-century, non-fiction, biography-memoir, academic, american-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: historical-fiction
Setting: Europe, Paris, Iraq, Yugoslavia, Israel, Russia, China, Arab
Period: 1919, World War I
592 pages · Paperback · John Murray