A good and nearly complete account of the happenings during the first
             nineteen months of the participation of United States in the First World
             War has been documented in "Over Here" by David Kennedy. The details in
             this book are between the period between April 2, 1917 when the war message
             was first given to Congress by Wilson and November 11, 1918 when the
             Armistice was signed, the book gives details of the political innovations,
             social disruptions and the cultural heritage of the experience of America
             There is a brief prologue which sets the stage, and then Kennedy
             plunges into the description of the war for the Americans, and the thoughts
             that accompanied the entry of US into the War. At the same time, one has to
             remember that Wilson had won the re-election in 1916 as he had promised to
             keep America out of the War, and this required him to make some
             explanations when the country got involved. In this case also Wilson
             applied the master strategy that he had used from the beginning to the end
             of his career - appealing directly to the people. This united their
             convictions, awakened their emotional energy and unleashed his massive
             The progressive community was a surprising assistant of Wilson in this
             involvement. This group had earlier viewed the war as regressive and a
             return to medieval violence, and thus a remnant of the feudal past of
             history. The exhortations of John Dewey and the New Republic awakened these
             people and they started supporting the war effort. The Great War was viewed
             as an important opportunity with a lot of possibilities for the society (49-
             50). The other group of the conservatives always rally around the flag, and
             this war was no exception. With this the left and the right soon got
             involved into interpretations of the war in the schools and colleges ...