Winner of the Robert H. Ferrell Book Prize "The Idealist is a powerful book, gorgeously written and consistently insightful. Samuel Zipp uses the 1942 world tour of Wendell Willkie to examine American attitudes toward internationalism, decolonization, and race in the febrile atmosphere of the world's first truly global conflict." -Andrew Preston, author of Sword of the Spirit, Shield of Faith A dramatic account of the plane journey undertaken by businessman-turned-maverick-internationalist Wendell Willkie to rally US allies ...
Read More
Winner of the Robert H. Ferrell Book Prize "The Idealist is a powerful book, gorgeously written and consistently insightful. Samuel Zipp uses the 1942 world tour of Wendell Willkie to examine American attitudes toward internationalism, decolonization, and race in the febrile atmosphere of the world's first truly global conflict." -Andrew Preston, author of Sword of the Spirit, Shield of Faith A dramatic account of the plane journey undertaken by businessman-turned-maverick-internationalist Wendell Willkie to rally US allies to the war effort. Willkie's tour of a planet shrunk by aviation and war inspired him to challenge Americans to fight a rising tide of nationalism at home. In August 1942, as the threat of fascism swept the world, a charismatic Republican presidential contender boarded the Gulliver at Mitchel Airfield for a seven-week journey around the world. Wendell Willkie covered 31,000 miles as President Roosevelt's unofficial envoy. He visited the battlefront in North Africa with General Montgomery, debated a frosty de Gaulle in Beirut, almost failed to deliver a letter to Stalin in Moscow, and allowed himself to be seduced by Chiang Kai-shek in China. Through it all, he was struck by the insistent demands for freedom across the world. In One World, the runaway bestseller he published on his return, Willkie challenged Americans to resist the "America first" doctrine espoused by the war's domestic opponents and warned of the dangers of "narrow nationalism." He urged his fellow citizens to end colonialism and embrace "equality of opportunity for every race and every nation." With his radio broadcasts regularly drawing over 30 million listeners, he was able to reach Americans directly in their homes. His call for a more equitable and interconnected world electrified the nation, until he was silenced abruptly by a series of heart attacks in 1944. With his death, America lost its most effective globalist, the man FDR referred to as "Private Citizen Number One." At a time when "America first" is again a rallying cry, Willkie's message is at once chastening and inspiring, a reminder that "one world" is more than a matter of supply chains and economics, and that racism and nationalism have long been intertwined.
Read Less
Add this copy of The Idealist Wendell Willkies Wartime Quest to Build to cart. $29.61, new condition, Sold by Books2anywhere rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Fairford, GLOUCESTERSHIRE, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2020 by Harvard University Press.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
PLEASE NOTE, WE DO NOT SHIP TO DENMARK. New Book. Shipped from UK in 4 to 14 days. Established seller since 2000. Please note we cannot offer an expedited shipping service from the UK.
Add this copy of The Idealist to cart. $33.99, new condition, Sold by Ria Christie Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Uxbridge, MIDDLESEX, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2020 by Harvard University Press.
Add this copy of The Idealist: Wendell Willkie's Wartime Quest to Build to cart. $38.64, new condition, Sold by Booksplease rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Southport, MERSEYSIDE, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2020 by Harvard University Press.
Add this copy of The Idealist: Wendell Willkie's Wartime Quest to Build to cart. $38.70, new condition, Sold by Kennys.ie rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Galway, IRELAND, published 2020 by Harvard University Press.
Add this copy of The Idealist Wendell Willkies Wartime Quest to Build to cart. $31.46, new condition, Sold by Paperbackshop International rated 2.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Fairford, GLOS, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2020 by Harvard University Press.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
PLEASE NOTE, WE DO NOT SHIP TO DENMARK. New Book. Shipped from UK in 4 to 14 days. Established seller since 2000. Please note we cannot offer an expedited shipping service from the UK.
Add this copy of The Idealist: Wendell Willkie's Wartime Quest to Build to cart. $15.30, very good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Atlanta rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Austell, GA, UNITED STATES, published 2020 by Belknap Press.
Add this copy of The Idealist Wendell Willkie's Wartime Quest to Build to cart. $25.50, like new condition, Sold by Michener & Rutledge Bookseller rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Baldwin City, KS, UNITED STATES, published 2020 by Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press.
Add this copy of The Idealist: Wendell Willkie's Wartime Quest to Build to cart. $15.30, like new condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Baltimore rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Halethorpe, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2020 by Belknap Press.
Add this copy of The Idealist: Wendell Willkie's Wartime Quest to Build to cart. $15.31, very good condition, Sold by More Than Words rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Waltham, MA, UNITED STATES, published 2020 by Harvard University Press.
Add this copy of The Idealist: Wendell Willkie's Wartime Quest to Build to cart. $18.99, very good condition, Sold by HPB Inc. rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2020 by Belknap Press: An Imprint of Har.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
I learned about Wendell Willkie many years ago in high school where I was inspired to read his book "One World". I have continued to think about Willkie over the years and am gratified that he is getting renewed attention. David Levering Lewis' biography "The Improbable Wendell Willkie" (2018) helped rekindle my fascination with Willkie as did this new book, "The Idealist: Wendell Willkie's Wartime Quest to Build One World" (2020) by Samuel Zipp, a cultural and intellectual historian at Brown University. Willkie (1892 -- 1944) was the surprise Republican candidate for president in 1940. After a hard-fought campaign, he was defeated by Franklin Roosevelt who secured a third term.
The focus of Zipp's book is not on Willkie's 1940 presidential candidacy but instead on his activities as leader of what Willkie termed the "Loyal Opposition" during the last four years of his life. (Willkie died before Roosevelt's third term was completed.) In August 1942, with Roosevelt's support and encouragement, Willkie undertook at his own expense a seven week journey to war-torn areas around the world. When he returned to the United States, Willkie told the story of this trip and the meaning he found in it in his book "One World" , which became an instant best-seller. Zipp's study tells the story of Willkie's journey and its aftermath.
Willkie was an "idealist" as Zipp aptly describes him because he tried to find a moral purpose in the United States participation in WW II and in its aftermath. He tried to explain this purpose with unmistakable commitment and moral fervor. Willkie followed and expanded upon the Atlantic Charter and Roosevelt's "Four Freedoms". He taught a broad internationalism and the interdependency of nations and peoples in the world, particularly in ending colonialism and racism, both internationally and domestically. Willkie followed and expanded upon the ideals of Woodrow Wilson, his boyhood hero in Indiana. As Zipp notes, Willkie, a wealthy corporation lawyer and executive, was an "unlikely figurehead for dreams of world order." He was "neither statesman nor philosopher nor revolutionary" but instead "thrived in the pragmatic and popular arena of electioneering and public opinion polling, middlebrow magazines and radio networks, newsreels and syndicated columns." Nevertheless his vision of world cooperation and interdependence captured and brought to life a sense of historical vision that was not realized but continued to inspire, even when Willkie faded into obscurity after his death.
In successive chapters, Zipp follows Willkie's 1942 journey to Egypt, Turkey, Beirut, Jerusalem, Baghdad, Tehran, the Soviet Union, and China. Willkie met with world leaders, saw many fronts of the war, and was careful to meet with many people outside of positions of power and to hear their concerns. Zipp does much more that document Willkie's trip; he offers a careful and valuable history of each country on the tour. Willkie is shown as a charismatic, idiosyncratic individual who could be both endearing and frustrating.
On his return home, Willkie gave a well-received radio address, met with President Roosevelt, and wrote "One World". He also mounted a failed presidential campaign in 1944. Zipp develops Willkie's idealist vision of one world and world interdependence and shows how it was compromised by resurgent nationalism and, ultimately by the Cold War. Zipp also is critical in part of Willkie's vision. He sees an unresolved tension between Willkie's internationalism and commitment to one world on the one hand and his strong commitment to American patriotism, perhaps including American exceptionalism, and the free market on the other hand. Zipp also proceeds to develop his own thoughts on the nationalism and compromises that have continued since Willkie's time. There is a great deal to be considered in this book, in thinking about Willkie and in thinking about Zipp. I wasn't convinced by Zipp's position that Willkie's internationalism couldn't be squared with his American patriotism. I also wasn't convinced by some of Zipp's own positions, including his pro-Palestinian anti-Israel stance.
An important lesson to be learned from Willkie and from this book is that it is possible to learn from and to deeply admire an individual even while not fully agreeing with him. This is how I see Willkie with his internationalism and his patriotism. Zipp's book is well documented and thoughtful. It shows how Willkie's moral idealism has remained alive and is a source of inspiration even while it encourages readers to think for themselves. I learned a great deal from the book in unexpected ways, including Zipp's discussion of the philosopher Ralph Barton Perry whose book "One World in the Making" (1945) was dedicated to Willkie's memory.
I was grateful to Zipp for giving me the opportunity to revisit Willkie through "The Idealist". There is much to be learned from thinking with Zipp about Willkie, about the extraordinarily difficult period of history in which he lived, and about his idealism with its challenging combination of patriotism and one world interdependence.
