Wilson

"It might sound counterintuitive, but there’s at least one way that politics is like art: There are never, ever, any easy answers, no matter how much we wish there were. President Woodrow Wilson was a contradiction of a human being, and historians still fight over his legacy, which has always been somewhat confusing — was he a pacifist or a warmonger, a racist or an early civil rights pioneer? A. Scott Berg, to his immense credit, avoids any simplistic conclusions in his thoughtful, absorbing biography of America’s 28th president. Wilson is a doorstop of a book, but it’s also one of the most fast-paced, readable political biographies of recent times — and it’s essential reading for anyone interested in 20th century American history."