Americas
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American Midnight: The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy's Forgotten Crisis
National Bestseller * a New York Times, Washington Post and New Yorker "Best Books of 2022" selection * New York Times Editor's Choice * a most anticipated book of Fall 2022: the New York Times, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune
From legendary historian Adam Hochschild, a "masterly" (New York Times) reassessment of the overlooked but startlingly resonant period between World War I and the Roaring Twenties, when the foundations of American democracy were threatened by war, pandemic, and violence fueled by battles over race, immigration, and the rights of labor
The nation was on the brink. Mobs burned Black churches to the ground. Courts threw thousands of people into prison for opinions they voiced-in one notable case, only in private. Self-appointed vigilantes executed tens of thousands of citizens' arrests. Some seventy-five newspapers and magazines were banned from the mail and forced to close. When the government stepped in, it was often to fan the flames.
This was America during and after the Great War: a brief but appalling era blighted by lynchings, censorship, and the sadistic, sometimes fatal abuse of conscientious objectors in military prisons-a time whose toxic currents of racism, nativism, red-baiting, and contempt for the rule of law then flowed directly through the intervening decades to poison our own. It was a tumultuous period defined by a diverse and colorful cast of characters, some of whom fueled the injustice while others fought against it: from the sphinxlike Woodrow Wilson, to the fiery antiwar advocates Kate Richards O'Hare and Emma Goldman, to labor champion Eugene Debs, to a little-known but ambitious bureaucrat named J. Edgar Hoover, and to an outspoken leftwing agitator-who was in fact Hoover's star undercover agent. It is a time that we have mostly forgotten about, until now.
InAmerican Midnight, award-winning historian Adam Hochschild brings alive the horrifying yet inspiring four years following the U.S. entry into the First World War, spotlighting forgotten repression while celebrating an unforgettable set of Americans who strove to fix their fractured country-and showing how their struggles still guide us today.
From legendary historian Adam Hochschild, a "masterly" (New York Times) reassessment of the overlooked but startlingly resonant period between World War I and the Roaring Twenties, when the foundations of American democracy were threatened by war, pandemic, and violence fueled by battles over race, immigration, and the rights of labor
The nation was on the brink. Mobs burned Black churches to the ground. Courts threw thousands of people into prison for opinions they voiced-in one notable case, only in private. Self-appointed vigilantes executed tens of thousands of citizens' arrests. Some seventy-five newspapers and magazines were banned from the mail and forced to close. When the government stepped in, it was often to fan the flames.
This was America during and after the Great War: a brief but appalling era blighted by lynchings, censorship, and the sadistic, sometimes fatal abuse of conscientious objectors in military prisons-a time whose toxic currents of racism, nativism, red-baiting, and contempt for the rule of law then flowed directly through the intervening decades to poison our own. It was a tumultuous period defined by a diverse and colorful cast of characters, some of whom fueled the injustice while others fought against it: from the sphinxlike Woodrow Wilson, to the fiery antiwar advocates Kate Richards O'Hare and Emma Goldman, to labor champion Eugene Debs, to a little-known but ambitious bureaucrat named J. Edgar Hoover, and to an outspoken leftwing agitator-who was in fact Hoover's star undercover agent. It is a time that we have mostly forgotten about, until now.
InAmerican Midnight, award-winning historian Adam Hochschild brings alive the horrifying yet inspiring four years following the U.S. entry into the First World War, spotlighting forgotten repression while celebrating an unforgettable set of Americans who strove to fix their fractured country-and showing how their struggles still guide us today.
Editorial Reviews
"Masterly...Hochschild's sharp portraits and vignettes make for poignant reading." - New York Times Book Review
"In American Midnight, the historian Adam Hochschild, celebrated for his King Leopold's Ghost and other volumes, recounts it with verve and insight… one of several fresh looks at a period that had previously received little widespread attention...Hochschild narrates a time as unsettled, frightening, and (perhaps) transformative as our own."
- Boston Globe
"Brillianthistorian Adam Hochschild … takes on the echoing years - a century ago - when pandemic and fire-stoking politicians buckled society." - Chicago Tribune
"A sweeping look at the years between World War I and the Roaring Twenties, when conscientious objectors to the war were maltreated and conflicts over race and labor were at a high pitch. Hochschild draws direct lines between events of that time and the unrest of today."
- New York Times, 15 Works of Nonfiction to Read This Fall
"A chilling tale laid out with engaging storytelling and meticulous detail." - Los Angeles Times
"A harrowing portrait of America in 1917-21, rife with racist violence, xenophobia and political repression abetted by the federal government. The book serves as a cautionary tale and a provocative counterpoint to our own era." - New York Times Book Review, Editors' Choice
"Exceptionally well written, impeccably organized, and filled with colorful, fully developed historical characters. … A riveting, resonant account of the fragility of freedom in one of many shameful periods in U.S. history." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Expanding his history begun in To End All Wars (2011), Hochschild brings to light people and themes that are often mere footnotes in other records of the Great War."
- Booklist (starred review)
"Meticulously researched, fluidly written, and frequently enraging, this is a timely reminder of the ‘vigilant respect for civil rights and Constituti...
"In American Midnight, the historian Adam Hochschild, celebrated for his King Leopold's Ghost and other volumes, recounts it with verve and insight… one of several fresh looks at a period that had previously received little widespread attention...Hochschild narrates a time as unsettled, frightening, and (perhaps) transformative as our own."
- Boston Globe
"Brillianthistorian Adam Hochschild … takes on the echoing years - a century ago - when pandemic and fire-stoking politicians buckled society." - Chicago Tribune
"A sweeping look at the years between World War I and the Roaring Twenties, when conscientious objectors to the war were maltreated and conflicts over race and labor were at a high pitch. Hochschild draws direct lines between events of that time and the unrest of today."
- New York Times, 15 Works of Nonfiction to Read This Fall
"A chilling tale laid out with engaging storytelling and meticulous detail." - Los Angeles Times
"A harrowing portrait of America in 1917-21, rife with racist violence, xenophobia and political repression abetted by the federal government. The book serves as a cautionary tale and a provocative counterpoint to our own era." - New York Times Book Review, Editors' Choice
"Exceptionally well written, impeccably organized, and filled with colorful, fully developed historical characters. … A riveting, resonant account of the fragility of freedom in one of many shameful periods in U.S. history." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Expanding his history begun in To End All Wars (2011), Hochschild brings to light people and themes that are often mere footnotes in other records of the Great War."
- Booklist (starred review)
"Meticulously researched, fluidly written, and frequently enraging, this is a timely reminder of the ‘vigilant respect for civil rights and Constituti...
Readers Top Reviews
G. AdamsStraycatRalp
This is a masterful book that combines solid research, clear prose, and superb storytelling skills to help us visualize and better understand a dark period of American social and political history with elements, aspects, and themes that, unfortunately, linger today in modern incarnations. It reads like a well-written novel with finely drawn characters, but it’s not fiction. It’s real and powerfully engaging, and although it is not preachy or partisan, it depicts a kind of darkness that regrettably has not altogether receded and against which a continually strong-shining light is required.
Tom Miller
Through Hochschild’s vivid description of the hate, racism and prejudice during the Wilson era one can better understand the same forces today which threaten democracy. All it took was the right person to ignite these forces of evil to bring our experiment in democracy to the brink. The vigilante groups that abused and killed during President Wilson’s time don’t exist today but they could easily be with us again and there are more and more in elected office who would lead us there. Thank goodness many voters in the 2022 mid-terms recognized this threat and used the power of the ballot box to stem the tide in this direction.
Harlow Cohen
The author wrote an incredible piece of America's history that is not well known but should be taught and part of the reading offered to students in college and HS
RHP
A very sobering study of a particular time in our history. Wish I could say that abuses like this never happened again.
Marc Lackritz
A review of the tumultuous 4 years from 1917 to 1921, that reminds us that nativism, political polarization, and violent bigotry and racism didn’t just erupt together in the United States in 2016. A well-researched, we’ll-written history of an important era.
