The War Lovers, Evan Thomas
The War Lovers, Evan Thomas
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The War Lovers
Roosevelt, Lodge, Hearst, and the Rush to Empire, 1898

Author: Evan Thomas

Narrator: Richard Davidson

Unabridged: 14 hr 1 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/27/2010


Synopsis

On February 15, 1898, the American ship USS Maine mysteriously exploded in the Havana Harbor. News of the blast quickly reached U.S. shores, where it was met by some not with alarm but great enthusiasm.

A powerful group of war lovers agitated that the United States exert its muscle across the seas. Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Cabot Lodge were influential politicians dismayed by the "closing" of the Western frontier. William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal falsely heralded that Spain's "secret infernal machine" had destroyed the battleship as Hearst himself saw great potential in whipping Americans into a frenzy. The Maine would provide the excuse they'd been waiting for.

On the other side were Roosevelt's former teacher, philosopher William James, and his friend and political ally, Thomas Reed, the powerful Speaker of the House. Both foresaw a disaster. At stake was not only sending troops to Cuba and the Philippines, Spain's sprawling colony on the other side of the world-but the friendships between these men.

Now, bestselling historian Evan Thomas brings us the full story of this monumental turning point in American history. Epic in scope and revelatory in detail, The War Lovers takes us from Boston mansions to the halls of Congress to the beaches of Cuba and the jungles of the Philippines. It is landmark work with an unforgettable cast of characters-and provocative relevance to today.

About Evan Thomas

Evan Thomas is coauthor, with Walter Isaacson, of The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made and the author of The Man to See: The Life of Edward Bennett Williams; The Very Best Men: Four Who Dared; The Early Years of the CIA; and Robert Kennedy: His Life. He is the assistant managing editor of Newsweek magazine, and he lives with his wife and two daughters in Washington, D.C.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Steve on May 26, 2016

I approached this one with some reservations. Thomas is an inside-the-beltway talking head (or was), who would often show for the Saturday and Sunday political gab-fests. As I recall, I tended to like him better than most, but that's not saying much. He seemed rational. A moderate liberal was my tak......more

Goodreads review by Christopher on March 02, 2022

Evan Thomas's The War Lovers is a workmanlike account of the Spanish-American War from the perspectives of the men most responsible for causing it. Thomas revisits the blood-and-thunder story of Theodore Roosevelt, William Randolph Hearst and other imperialists craving national greatness through a s......more

Goodreads review by Andrew on June 26, 2017

The War Lovers is a spectacular vehicle for understanding the beginnings of the American age of imperialism generally and the Spanish-American War specifically. Evan Thomas should be commended for writing the book in a style that gets the readers hooked from the get-go and tells a true story in a wa......more

Goodreads review by Patrick on June 04, 2010

The War Lovers is not written for history students or professionals. This alone isn't a problem; understanding American history is not the property of any exclusive club. Both young adults and people who haven't been in a classroom in decades deserve access to history too. The question is whether Th......more

Goodreads review by Christopher on May 31, 2010

The consequences of wars of choice as seen through the prism of the Spanish American War, and several of its most notable personalities - Theodore Roosevelt, the elder Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, the philosopher William James, newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst, and Speaker of the House of R......more