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

Copyright 2010 by Evan Thomas

Reading group guide copyright 2011 by Evan Thomas and Little, Brown and Company

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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Originally published in hardcover by Little, Brown and Company, April 2010

Second eBook Edition: May 2011

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Maps by George W. Ward

ISBN: 978-0-316-08798-8

What causes the eternal pull of war on men? Its one of historys most important questions. Evan Thomas provides fascinating insights in this gripping narrative of Americas rush to war in 1898. With a colorful cast of characters led by Teddy Roosevelt and William Randolph Hearst, its a tale filled with lessons for today.

Walter Isaacson, author of Benjamin Franklin:
An American Life

In his absorbing narrative of men who found duty or fulfillment or personal meaning in a war for empireand of other men, like William James, who feared that such a quest would rot the nations soulEvan Thomas has illuminated, in a compulsively readable style, a critical moment in American history. This is a book that, with its style and panache, is hard to forget and hard to put down.

Ronald Steel, New York Times Book Review

Evan Thomas has delivered an innovative, frequently entertaining, and valuable retelling of an episode that set the pattern for more than a century of foreign military adventurism. This timely book is a cautionary tale about how the psyche of powerful and ambitious leaders may matter more than factor even truthwhen the question of war arises.

James McGrath Morris, Washington Post

Evan Thomas is a national resource, and this utterly compelling book reminds us why. In The War Lovers, he takes a crucial historical moment, shows its importance to our own time, and recreates its main characters with such insight and blazing color that they seem as if they are alive today. Most of all, Thomass book suggests vital lessons for our generation of American leaders and citizens to take very seriously as we confront some of the same public challenges that faced Theodore Roosevelt and his contemporaries.

Michael Beschloss, author of The Conquerors:
Roosevelt, Truman, and the Destruction of Hitlers Germany, 19411945

Evan Thomas is too sensitive a writer and too scrupulous a historian to present a reductive story in which Bush equals Roosevelt and Lodge sits in for Cheney. But for a nation of civic and historical illiterates, Thomas provides a public service by forging in the smithy of his imagination the essential story of Americas too often denied lust for empire.

Peter Kadzis, Boston Phoenix

Evan Thomas generally (and wisely) leaves it to the reader to draw parallels between the two wars. Those parallels are striking: As both conflicts demonstrate, even a short, militarily successful war has the power to make or break careers, wreck old friendships, and change the course of a nations history.

Drew DeSilver, Seattle Times

A masterful book with uncanny resonance for todays challenges. Evan Thomas provides a haunting case study of how America cascaded into war in 1898. In his trademark prose, we vividly see the human dimension of the ineluctable push and pull of war, not to mention a poignant story of friendships ripped apart and a nation torn at the seams. This work is a triumph.

Jay Winik, author of April 1865 and The Great Upheaval

What can Theodore Roosevelt teach us about President George W. Bush and the post-9/11 thirst for war? Plenty, says Evan Thomas in this finely crafted book about the Gilded Age, when Americas desire for empire building fueled the Spanish-American War.

Tina Jordan, Entertainment Weekly

A rollicking account of the build-up to the Spanish-American War. The pace is breathless, and a glance at the introduction had us hooked.

W. M. Akers, New York Observer

The War Lovers is a vivid, fast-paced, and irreverent look at an era most Americans would just as soon overlook. It is also a multiple portrait of some fascinating Americans, but inevitably its central figure is the young Theodore Roosevelt, portrayed with all his eloquence and energy, absurdity, and raw aggression.

Geoffrey C. Ward, author of A First-Class Temperament:
The Emergence of Franklin Roosevelt

The War Lovers is a fascinating read, another great work of history that reads like a novel.

Andrea Mitchell, Andrea Mitchell Reports

A complex and compelling book about a complicated chapter in our history, a moment we are too often distracted by outsized personality and huge technological and social progress. But it is a story we need to know, as the seeds of this, our most difficult 21st, were spun at the close of the 19th.

Ken Burns

This very interesting book, well written, with vivid description, personality portraiture, and excellent historical depth, has several dimensions. The War Lovers sets us to thinking about these larger aspects of the war with Spain at a time when Iraq and Afghanistan have made our minds receptive.

David C. Acheson, Washington Times

No biographer at work today has a surer feel for the human dimension of history than Evan Thomas. In this remarkable and original work, he has painted a portrait of a world at once remote and immediate, describing with grace and skill the conflicting passions and politics that created American imperialism. It is safe to say that no one who wants to understand the America of the 21st century can afford to miss this landmark book. The War Lovers is as good as popular history gets.

Jon Meacham, author of American Lion:
Andrew Jackson in the White House, winner of the Pulitzer Prize

Evan Thomas shows his brilliance as a storyteller.

Edward Cuddihy, Buffalo News

An enthralling book. Evan Thomas weaves together the intricate relationships of Roosevelt, Lodge, and Hearst, as well as the opponents of war who truly were swimming against the popular tide.

James R. Carroll, Louisville Courier-Journal

Thomass insights into Lodge and Reed are a fresh and fascinating view of American politics. The War Lovers is a subtle, nuanced history of the country and its leaders as they entered the 20th century.

Bob Hoover, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Evan Thomas engagingly conveys what happened in this consequential period. Thomas offers an action-packed narrative replete with vivid descriptions of key events and deft character sketches.

Jon Rosenberg, Christian Science Monitor

Vivid, insightful, and readable.

Robert K. Landers, Wall Street Journal