The Ghost at the Feast: America and the Collapse of World Order, 1900-1941 (Dangerous Nation Trilogy)

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Reared on a Christian hope of redemption (he was, after all, the son of a Lutheran minister), Nietzsche was unable, finally, to accept a tragic sense of life of the kind he tried to retrieve in his early work. Yet his critique of liberal rationalism remains as forceful as ever. As he argued with masterful irony, the belief that the world can be made fully intelligible is an article of faith: a metaphysical wager, rather than a premise of rational inquiry. It is a thought our pious unbelievers are unwilling to allow. The pivotal modern critic of religion, Friedrich Nietzsche will continue to be the ghost at the atheist feast. With a facility for clear and cogent prose, Kagan is determined to prove that, far from exemplifying an isolationist approach to world affairs long proclaimed by many scholars, Americans have gathered and deployed massive strength to shape the international system to their liking.And yet, in spite of this spirited pursuit of power, Americans have seldom been happy in its possession or comfortable in its use. . . . Kagan’s treatment of the various motives underpinning America’s entry in the First World War is exemplary.” —Brian Stewart, Commentary

The portrayal of the war as a battle between democracy and autocracy was not just Wilson’s notion. It was echoed by other leading American figures, including his Republican opponent in the 1916 presidential election, Charles Evans Hughes, who denounced Germany’s “onslaught on liberty and on civilization itself.” At least in Kagan’s telling, this framing relied less on a defense of abstract liberal democratic principles and more on an abhorrence of the ruthless and uncivilized behavior of the autocratic regime. So whatever advantage Germany may have received from the terror it inspired in its enemies, it paid the price of incurring the powerful antagonism of the American people. The Ghost at the Feast” provides a profoundly interesting portrait of a country not yet comfortable in engaging with the wider world (at least in ways countries in Europe and Asia would have desired). America was suspicious of the pursuits of empire, yet found itself with an unintentional empire in the Philippines and Cuba, and a hemispheric policy of exclusion. America’s empire was, by virtue of it being American, different — according to Kagan. It was not meant for economic or political gain, but for the improvement and betterment of the lives of those people whom Washington governed, and to whom power would eventually be returned. At the dawn of the twentieth century, the United States was one of the world’s richest, most populous, and most technologically advanced nations. It was also a nation divided along numerous fault lines, with conflicting aspirations and concerns pulling it in different directions. America’s resulting intervention in World War II marked the beginning of a new era for the United States and for the world.The book provides context and perspective about both America's internal dialogue and then entrance to World War I; what America did or did not do during the 1920's and 1930's as war approached. During this time the "America First" movement (originated approximately before WW1) - and revived itself before WW2. Much detail linking Great Britain's "appeasement" at Munich before WW2 - to Great Britain's (correct) assessment that the United States would not support them in a shooting war with Germany; and further that at that time Great Britain could not prevail in a shooting war with Germany. As (Walter) Lippman put it, "Having disarmed ourselves and divided the old Allies from each other, we adopted the pious resolutions of the Kellogg Pact, and refused even to participate in the organization of a World Court. Walter Lippmann spelled out these broader interests in the New Republic in the weeks following Germany’s January 30 announcement. He argued that the United States had an interest not in legalisms about neutral rights but in the preservation of an ‘Atlantic Community’ made up of the western and mostly democratic nations on both sides of the ocean. It had an interest in seeing to it that ‘the world’s highway’ should not be closed either to Americans or the Western Allies. It had an interest in defending ‘the civilization of which we are a part’ against the ‘anarchy’ that would result from a German victory. Germany was fighting for ‘a victory subversive of the world system in which America lives.’”

The U.S. minister to China, Paul Reinsch, warned that if Japan were not contained, it would become ‘the greatest engine of military oppression and dominance’ that the world had ever seen and that a ‘huge armed conflict’ would be ‘absolutely inevitable.’” A professional historian’s product through and through, sharply focused on its period and supported by amazingly detailed endnotes….Probably the most comprehensive, and most impressive, recent analysis we have of how Americans regarded the outside world and its own place in it during those four critical decades….Mr. Kagan recounts presidential decision-making and official actions in great detail, yet offers even greater analysis of the swirls of U.S. public opinion, the arguments of the press and pundits, the evidence in Gallup polls, and the ever-important actions of senators and congressmen.” If Watson shows how Nietzsche’s challenge resonated throughout pretty well every area of cultural life, for Eagleton this focus on culture is a distraction, if not a crass mistake. Discussing Edmund Burke and T S Eliot, both of whom viewed religion largely in cultural terms even though they were believers, he asks rhetorically: “Might culture succeed in becoming the sacred discourse of a post-religious age, binding people and intelligentsia in spiritual union? Could it bring the most occult of truths to bear on everyday conduct, in the manner of religious faith?” Historically, the idea that religion is separate from culture is highly anomalous – a peculiarly Christian notion, with no counterpart in pre-Christian antiquity or non-western beliefs. But Eagleton isn’t much interested in other religions, and for him it is clear that the answer to his question must be “No”. A deeply researched and exceptionally readable book about a period with which many Americans are, in practice, only cursorily familiar.Kagan offers a wealth of detail, nuance, and complexity, bringing this critical period in America’s rise to global leadership vividly to life." Americans on the scene-career diplomats, military officers, and political appointees alike-warned throughout the 1920s that the danger of another war was high, that American economic interests were threatened, and that absent a more active American diplomacy a ‘catastrophe’ loomed.”

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A deeply researched and exceptionally readable book about a period with which many Americans are, in practice, only cursorily familiar. Kagan offers a wealth of detail, nuance, and complexity, bringing this critical period in America’s rise to global leadership vividly to life." Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil. Critics have suggested that Kagan’s view is far narrower than it perhaps should be, and that it should have included more of the parochial European and imperial interests than it does. This is an unfair criticism as Kagan’s latest is, of course, a history of American foreign relations and, more importantly, how America viewed its power and purpose at the beginning of the 20th century. Here, Kagan masterfully captures not just the high politics of Washington, but also the political machines around successive presidents, the press eco-system, and the public sentiment. This holistic view is vital to understanding America at this time, and what shaped and constrained the actions of successive presidencies. This is a particularly interesting point as the presidency at the turn of the 20th century was far more constrained by activist Congresses in exercising power than today’s contemporaries would recognize (or indeed welcome).