Rating: 
Summary: No new understanding of Wilson
Review: "What did Mrs. Galt do when President Wilson proposed to her?"
"She was so surprised she fell out of bed."This was pretty much the extent of my knowledge of Woodrow Wilson, the man who lead the United States through World War One. I also knew that he was a Virginia-born history professor who was, in quick succession, president of Princeton, governor of New Jersey and President of the United States. He was also insufferable in his self righteousness. "The Good Lord had only ten," was Clemenceau's commentary on the Fourteen Points. All this I knew before reading Louis Auchincloss' Penguin Lives volume on Wilson. Having finished, I cannot say that I learned any more. In fact, I barely remember reading the book.
Rating: 
Summary: A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF W. WILSON'S LIFE.
Review: A brief history of one of our most idealistic presidents. The author details his early life in the south, and his academic career resulting in the presendency of Princeton. For Democratic party hacks, it was easy converting Wilson into the Governor of New Jersey. Party hacks again nominated him to the Presidency on the Democratic ticket. From there, Wilson became his own man, and went liberal. I liked the fact the book give a brief glimpse of Henry Cabot Lodge, Wilson's Senate opponent. Both were idealistic, however where Lodge could give and take, Wilson had to have all or nothing. This was Wilson's undoing and may have been the result of his worsening medical condition. I wish the book was of longer length with more details.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Introduction!
Review: A short book, but very informative. A good beginner's book that will leave the reader searching to find out more about this enigmatic president.
Rating:
Summary: Useful introducton to WW
Review: Auchincloss develops two themes in WW's life. First, is the consideration of WW's health. As a young man, he had pyschosomatic head and stomach troubles related to his mother's manipulative behavior. Later, he had a seies of strokes beginning in the Princeton years and ending with the serious one of October 1919. The second theme is the 'duel nature' of WW's personality. He could be open and fair-minded, and then self-righteous and contemptuous. Auchincloss uses these two themes to organize the book. The first part of the book summarizing WW's early years up till the political run beginning in 1910 is the best part of the book. The years as Governor of NJ(1910-12) and the Presidential years(1913-1920) are hurried. LA packs so much info into this period(tariffs, the Mexican Civil War, Isolationism, WW1, rivalries with TR and Lodge, his two marriages) that it is very rushed and hectic. The first part of the book is the best and the whole book is a fine intro to WW.
Rating: 
Summary: Elegant profile
Review: Auchincloss, an esteemed novelist, turns his powers to our most complex President since Jefferson with stunning results. This is an elegant an revealing profile.
Rating: 
Summary: lacks substance and depth
Review: Cecil Spring-Rice, the British ambassador to Washington, described Woodrow Wilson as "a mysterious, a rather Olympian personage and shrouded in darkness from which issue occasional thunderbolts." At least to his contemporaries, the twenty-eighth president may well have been something of an enigma. After all, he did somehow move from a fairly conservative philosophy toward a more activist government, including a reversal on child labor laws. Unfortunately, Auchincloss contributes little to shedding some light on these riddles of Wilson's character and mind-except for the all-important (to Auchincloss, at least) reason for the estrangement between Wilson and his advisor/friend/confidante Colonel Edward M. House, which is attributed to Edith Wilson. Auchincloss paints a very superficial picture of Wilson, and maybe that's because of the nature of the Penguin Lives series, but there was much that was mentioned in passing and not really mentioned again. For example, Wilson's southern birth and upbringing are given early and justified attention, but the consequences of this southern heritage on Wilson's life and politics are not pursued, even though the question is particularly interesting, relevant, and important for the president's views on race. Wilson's deep Presbyterian faith is given similarly superficial treatment. It did much to create the man's stubbornness and sense of moral rectitude, but how it shaped the specific elements of Wilson's idealism, Auchincloss does not explore. All that emerges is the all-too typical portrait of a man with a "divided" nature. I did find his discussion of the 1916 election interesting, particularly the contingency plan in the case of a Wilson defeat. In this period of international crisis, had Wilson lost to Charles Evans Hughes, Vice President Marshall and Secretary of State Lansing would have resigned, Hughes would have been named Secretary of State, and Wilson would also have resigned. I had never heard this before and hope to explore the issue further. Besides an apparent affinity for describing certain remarks as "intemperate," Auchincloss seemed to be fixated on the grandson of Henry Cabot Lodge and on Bill Clinton, both of whom he mentions twice. Lodge's grandson receives considerable scorn for trying to justify his grandfather's behavior (his "hatred" of Wilson and his reading of the Versailles Treaty in the Senate). The Clinton impeachment is mentioned as an example of the people's representatives taking action against the will of a majority, and Clinton's definition of "is" is compared to Lodge's grandson's definition of "hatred." Maybe these are legitimate comparisons (though probably not), but they seemed wholly out of place in this biography. These Penguin biographies aren't necessarily intended to be the deepest or most insightful of books, but they should at least contain some substance. This one, unfortunately, contains very little that can't be had by reading an American history textbook.
Rating:
Summary: lacks substance and depth
Review: Cecil Spring-Rice, the British ambassador to Washington, described Woodrow Wilson as "a mysterious, a rather Olympian personage and shrouded in darkness from which issue occasional thunderbolts." At least to his contemporaries, the twenty-eighth president may well have been something of an enigma. After all, he did somehow move from a fairly conservative philosophy toward a more activist government, including a reversal on child labor laws. Unfortunately, Auchincloss contributes little to shedding some light on these riddles of Wilson's character and mind-except for the all-important (to Auchincloss, at least) reason for the estrangement between Wilson and his advisor/friend/confidante Colonel Edward M. House, which is attributed to Edith Wilson. Auchincloss paints a very superficial picture of Wilson, and maybe that's because of the nature of the Penguin Lives series, but there was much that was mentioned in passing and not really mentioned again. For example, Wilson's southern birth and upbringing are given early and justified attention, but the consequences of this southern heritage on Wilson's life and politics are not pursued, even though the question is particularly interesting, relevant, and important for the president's views on race. Wilson's deep Presbyterian faith is given similarly superficial treatment. It did much to create the man's stubbornness and sense of moral rectitude, but how it shaped the specific elements of Wilson's idealism, Auchincloss does not explore. All that emerges is the all-too typical portrait of a man with a "divided" nature. I did find his discussion of the 1916 election interesting, particularly the contingency plan in the case of a Wilson defeat. In this period of international crisis, had Wilson lost to Charles Evans Hughes, Vice President Marshall and Secretary of State Lansing would have resigned, Hughes would have been named Secretary of State, and Wilson would also have resigned. I had never heard this before and hope to explore the issue further. Besides an apparent affinity for describing certain remarks as "intemperate," Auchincloss seemed to be fixated on the grandson of Henry Cabot Lodge and on Bill Clinton, both of whom he mentions twice. Lodge's grandson receives considerable scorn for trying to justify his grandfather's behavior (his "hatred" of Wilson and his reading of the Versailles Treaty in the Senate). The Clinton impeachment is mentioned as an example of the people's representatives taking action against the will of a majority, and Clinton's definition of "is" is compared to Lodge's grandson's definition of "hatred." Maybe these are legitimate comparisons (though probably not), but they seemed wholly out of place in this biography. These Penguin biographies aren't necessarily intended to be the deepest or most insightful of books, but they should at least contain some substance. This one, unfortunately, contains very little that can't be had by reading an American history textbook.
Rating:
Summary: Very good short biography
Review: For what this book sets out to do, it is excellent. This is a short biography of about 125 pages. It is not foot noted or indexed. What this book does is provide a very good overview of Wilson. We get a good feel for what his personality was and this personality embodied both his stregnths and weakenesses. The author's theme is that there were two Wilsons; one was the intellectual idealist and the other was the stubborn, emotional, uncompromising character who suffered great failures due to this second trait. History has often portrait Henry Cabot Lodge as a villain who killed the League of Nations but if Wilson had been a little less bull headed, it would have passed the Senate with Lodge's support. Lodge was concerned about a clause that would have obligated the United States to go to war if another nation's territorial integrity was violated. Lodge proposed a reservation which recognized that it was up to Congress to declare war. If Wilson would have capitulated on this one point, the United States would most likely have joined the League. However, hampered by ill health, Wilson's judgment may not have been sound and therefore he lost the big prize due to his inflexibility. Quite frankly, Lodge may have been right. Paul Johnson in his "History of the American People" notes that the clause, as supported by Wilson, could have been interpreted to require the United States to go to war to protect England's territorial integrity in it's colonial empire such as in India. Given that possible interpretation, wasn't Lodge right? Wilson was a complex man, intellectual yet hardheaded in putting forth his goals. Ill health allowed his second wife, Edith, to exert a tremendous amount of influence (indeed, there is a recently published book on this subject by Phyllis Lee Levin). Ultimately. what emerges from Auchincloss's biography is a man who could have been a great president who ultimately suffered major failures due to his weaknesses.
Rating:
Summary: A gem!
Review: I am stunned by the reviews below. Auchincloss did not set out to DO Wilson. He wrote a wonderfully concise, artful essay with only the morsels and highlights of a complex career. I do not know the Wilson literature and there may be problems here and there. But I can't imagine that the objectives of this series were anything more than stimulating readers to peruse the more scholarly literature on Wilson. It did. Funny confession: I can imagine myself being as pompous and exacting if I was reviewing one of the other Penguin lives in an area in which I DO know the scholarly literature. I hope not. And -- in response to the reviewer below who asks why Auchincloss was asked to do this: Why not? These are clearly intended to be quirky and brief idiosyncractic looks at important lives. Not definitive. Take Janet Malcolm: I have read every word she has ever written EXCEPT her Penguin Chekhov. And while I can't imagine why she was picked, I can't wait to read her own quirky take. Even in areas of my own teaching and research, I would love to read short quirky, unscholarly takes by writers who are not obvious choices. For example, Joseph Goebbels: I have read millions of words by him and about him -- God help me -- but I would love to read a "Penguin" take by anyone from Calvin Trillin to John Updike to Maureen Dowd. (You think Osama has a mean streak?) Scholarly literatures get stuck in thematic ruts and internecine warfare --which admittedly can be sometimes be fruitful and interesting -- but why not some fresh looks by outsiders? By the way, I am not an Auchincloss reader. But this was one elegant essay.
Rating:
Summary: Superb story. Complete
Review: I was surprised at how thorough this book is on the life of Wilson after reading the other reviews of it being just a 'primer'. It really goes into how Wilson the man/president was made and what his prejudices, virtues and hotpoints were very well. The beginning of the book is rather boring but once Wilson becomes president it definitely gets more interesting & how Wilson handled the aftermath of WWI very inciteful & apropos for us going into war against Afghanistan now with the modern day League of Nations, the UN, trying to arbitrate their own world order. I think Louis Auchinchloss, cousin of the late Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis did a good job on the research & unless you are a Wilsonophile this should be more than enough.
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