Jerome Otte's Reviews > American Midnight: A Great War, A Violent Peace, and Democracy's Forgotten Crisis

A well-researched and engaging work.

The story moves along at a pretty fluid pace, and Hochschild provides great portraits of the colorful people involved, and brings to life an era where lawlessness was rampant and the presidency charged with executing the law was complicit in many abuses and, at its most charitable, willing to overlook them. The partnership between Mitchell Palmer and J. Edgar Hoover is presented clearly as well. He also does a good job describing the forces that led to so much hysteria, such as the Great War and public resistance to US involvement, the Russian revolution, labor movements, anti-immigrant sentiment, vigilantes, and the eugenics movement.

Hochshild does try to link some of the story’s themes to modern-day events, and some readers may find this a bit forced. Wilson can be a confounding president to study, but Hochschild’s portrait of him doesn’t have much nuance. Others might wish for more coverage of the movement for women’s suffrage. Still, the narrative is well-organized, the writing is clear and the story is coherent and very readable.

An insightful and well-written work.