Specifically, he focuses on the unions and war opponents. Hochschild has chosen a very interesting time in American history and has put the focus on an often-ignored part of World War I, the home front. The positives of American Midnight are considerable. The review becomes even harder when the author is Adam Hochschild who wrote one of the best books I have ever read, King Leopold’s Ghost. It’s hard to review a book which has so many positive attributes but has one major and fatal flaw. So much food was needed for the war effort that meatpacking companies saw their profits soar over 400%. Although there were concerns on how many would do so, nearly 10 million did so. On June 5, 1917, all eligible men were required to register for the draft.

Quick synopsis:Ī look at the American home front around the time of World War I. (Oct.Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for American Midnight:Īll was not fine on the home front. Meticulously researched, fluidly written, and frequently enraging, this is a timely reminder of the “vigilant respect for civil rights and Constitutional safeguards” needed to protect democracy and forestall authoritarianism. He also documents outbreaks of racial violence, anarchist bombings, and the 1919 Palmer raids, which targeted the Union of Russian Workers.

Though few records remain, Hochschild cites claims by one lawyer that between 19, 462 men and women were jailed by the federal government for a year or longer for their written or spoken words. Hochschild documents how new laws ostensibly passed to protect America’s national security, including the Espionage and Sedition Acts, were weaponized against the foreign born, labor activists, and pacifists. Even more common, however, was violence against coal miners, steel workers, and other laborers attempting to unionize. Historian Hochschild ( Rebel Cinderella) notes that increasing numbers of immigrants from Italy, Eastern Europe, and Russia during the early 20th century provoked nativist resentments and violent attacks from Americans whose Protestant ancestors came from England and northwestern Europe. to enter WWI to make the world “safe for democracy” ironically set the stage for an unprecedented attack on Americans’ civil liberties, according to this expert and eye-opening account.

President Woodrow Wilson’s call for the U.S.

American Midnight by Adam Hochschild