The Wilsonian Moment: Self-Determination and the International Origins of Anticolonial Nationalism 1st Edition

I want to do a couple of things in this review. First, I want to briefly remark on the historical method of the Manela's books. If you find historiography to be the surest path to a loss of consciousness, then avoid this part of my review.Second, I want to give a fuller summary than has been offered so far by the other reviewers.Finally, I will offer a few thoughts on why this books is worthy of the broadest possible audience and who that audience might be.The main point I want to make about the methodology is that this book is an excellent argument for the relatively recent broadening of historical writing by using both a transnational and an international perspective. Manela is clear on how he means these terms:"...international in that it played out in an arena defined by the interactions between sovereign nation-states and in which such states were the primary actors. It was also transnational, meaning that the perceptions and actions of the actors regularly transcended and crossed existing political boundaries" (p.222, see also p. 13 for a similar definition).Readers familiar with the work of historians like Timothy Snyder, Christopher Bayly and Thomas Bender will find themselves at home with this part of Manela's method.Where Manela is a little more disturbing for this life-long reader of American history is that he is using this method as a way of telling how a bit of American history was seen from and impacted the nationalist movements on the colonial periphery.Let me outline the book itself and perhaps the above will make more sense.Manela's book has three thematic sections and a brief conclusion.The first section looks at the emergence of Wilson's peace plans through several of Wilson's speeches, i.e., the Peace without Victory speech of Jan. 22nd, 1917 and the Fourteen Points speech of Jan. 8th, 1918. These speeches and some others that Wilson made created the Wilsonian Moment of Manela's title. They outlined a vision of a new approach to international relations in which all nations would be seen as equals and where an international tribunal would serve to adjudicate disputes.Perhaps most importantly, there emerged from these speeches and some other developments the idea of the self-determination of peoples. Manela's discussion of how Wilson thought of self-determination and how that idea was appropriated by nationalists within a colony like India or Korea is a superb idea of how ideas take on their own lives.Another interesting part of this section is how the United States created a propaganda campaign for Wilson's plans that helped to spread these ideas around the world and , at the same time, to turn Wilson into a sort of political saint/archangel; someone both superbly principled and powerful.The second section looks at how these ideas were received in four countries- Egypt, India, China and Korea. The first two were British colonies, the fourth was a Japanese colony and China was being bullied by all the major powers. Wilson's ideas energized and radicalized the nationalist movements within all of these countries. A gradual reformism had seemed the best approach to their desire for self-government. Now in all four of these countries, it seemed possible to go to the Peace Conference and to demand to be seen a sovereign nation demanding its recognition and place in the new international community.In all four cases they were denied anything like equal representation at the conference. In the case of the British colonies, the colonial nationalist leaders were denied the right to even go to France.The third section is the story of the reaction in each country to the failure of the peace to take their nationalist movements seriously and the various ways that that failure served to further radicalize and popularize the movements. Among other things, the chapters in this section tells the stories how in each country, Wilson's stature fell and how the nationalist turned away from Wilsonian liberalism to, e.g., the Bolshevism of Lenin.So now let's revisit that whole international/transnational thing for just a moment. These four separate national movements were aware of themselves as possible international actors. The Egyptians hoped that the Americans and Wilson would use their national power/status to help the Egyptians. The failure of the American government to (even seriously consider) supporting the Egyptians against the British is an international story.The story of how Egyptians in England, France and the United States as well as Egypt organized to petition Wilson for support is a transnational story. I hope that makes the distinction clear.All of this I found to be very well told and utterly convincing. And a very important read for the American audience. We like to think of ourselves as being special in a variety of ways. We have claimed (at various times) to be a paragon, to have a manifest destiny or to be the founder of the path for other nations to follow. Manela's books is about a couple of years when it seemed to much of the world that this was so. We failed to walk our talk in any serious way at that moment. Some of it was due to isolationist Republicans in the Senate (the more things change...), some of it was due to Wilson's failings and/or frailty (he did suffer a terrible stroke in Oct, 1919).We could (and should) investigate and debate all the reasons why we failed to live up to our ideals at that moment. The point I want to make, however, is simply those ideals and our self-image are not just important to us.If we want to be different, to be a nation representative of ideals and not just power politics than we sure as heck have to try harder.Manela's history help us understand how to do that.

This was a required book for one of my classes, and I can certainly say I was not prepared for the incredible perspective this book gave me on President Wilson's message in a post-war world. The connections that Manela draws between Egypt, China, India, and Korea provided a unique story that I would highly recommend to anyone interested in US foreign policy following WWI. Having almost no knowledge of this period in history prior to reading the book, I came away with a deeper understanding and appreciation.

This is an important book. Much ink has been spilled over how the Versailles peace treaty sowed the seeds of WW2. Little has been said about how the same process set in motion the belief in and motivation for anticolonial movements around the world. It's engaging, detailed and well-researched, and has good pacing. In other words, despite its ambitious scope, it moves quickly and is accessible. It's a great read for those wanting to understand historical trends that shape the modern world.

The is groundbreaking work in global history. Manela is able to tell one story, the story of self-determination in the colonial world, from the American, European, Chinese, Indian, Egyptian, and Korean perspectives without deluding the narrative. This is my first review and I was inspired to do so based on the misguided perceptions of the first reviewer. For a history book it's well written, well researched, and will evoke feelings of frustration and admiration for those who were let down by Wilson.

Outstanding for anyone interested in national self-determination or anti-colonialism: beautifully written, researched, and argued. I picked it up because I was interested in self-determination as applied to the Israel/Palestine conflict, but people with a wide variety of other interests in the notion will find it equally valuable.

Yet another book bought at great value and excellent shipping for my college student.

excellent read which simply demonstrates the beginings of the evolvement of the U.S. as a superpower.

'The Wilsonian Moment' is exactly what you would expect a college level history textbook to be: chock full of information and written a way that at least tries not to be dull. Unfortunately, it didn't succeed in the not being dull part. While certainly educational, it doesn't make for an entertaining read. Just a very informative one.