by Evan Thomas
First published 2010
Evan Thomas examines how a small group of influential Americans pushed the nation toward war in 1898. The USS Maine's explosion in Havana Harbor on February 15, 1898 provided the spark, but Thomas shows the appetite for conflict had been building for years. Young Teddy Roosevelt, Henry Cabot Lodge, and other hawks had long argued that America needed to project power overseas. They felt constrained by the closed Western frontier and embraced social Darwinist ideas about national strength. William Randolph Hearst's newspapers fanned public hysteria by blaming Spain for the Maine incident despite lacking evidence. President McKinley, described as easily swayed, eventually declared war and sent forces to both Cuba and the Philippines. Thomas traces how these war advocates transformed American foreign policy and set the stage for costly conflicts. The book follows six central figures including Roosevelt, Lodge, Hearst, McKinley, philosopher William James, and politician Thomas Reed as they navigate this pivotal moment that reshaped the nation's role in the world.
Genres: history, 20th-century, american, military-history, 19th-century, american-history
Vibes: suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Cuba, Havana, Philippines, United States
Period: 1898
471 pages · Hardcover · Little, Brown and Company