First published 2013
A. Scott Berg delivers an intimate examination of Woodrow Wilson, the scholar who became America's 28th President. Berg spent over a decade researching this biography, gaining access to previously unknown document collections from Wilson's inner circle. The Pulitzer Prize winner draws from hundreds of thousands of papers in the Wilson Archives plus two recently discovered caches to reveal new details about Wilson's character and unknown events from his life. Berg traces Wilson's journey from academic to wartime leader who guided America through World War I while championing his vision to make the world "safe for democracy." The book exposes Wilson as both passionate idealist and deeply flawed human being, revealing the stroke that incapacitated him and the cover-up that followed as one of the century's best-kept secrets. Berg presents Wilson not as icon but as complex man, showing his accomplishments alongside his failures in this most personal biography ever written about the controversial president.
Genres: biography, history, 20th-century, political-science, academic, american-history
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: complex-character, flawed-hero
Setting: America
Period: 20th Century
818 pages · Hardcover · G.P. Putnam's Sons
Content warnings: mental-illness