Woodrow Wilson

The Light Withdrawn

De: Christopher Cox

Narrado por: Jonathan Davis

An “assiduously researched” (The Wall Street Journal), “powerful...dispassionate new biography” (The Christian Science Monitor) of Woodrow Wilson, focused on his role in the long national struggle for racial equality and women’s voting rights.

More than a century after his death, Woodrow Wilson’s influence on American politics remains strong while his contradictions loom larger than ever. With panoramic sweep, Woodrow Wilson: The Light Withdrawn examines his life and times, focusing especially on the 28th president’s opposition to the movements for racial equality and women’s voting rights. The Wilson who emerges is a man superbly unsuited to the moment when, as he ascended to the presidency in 1912, the struggle for women’s voting rights in America reached the tipping point.

The first southern Democrat to occupy the White House since the Civil War era brought with him to Washington like-minded men who quickly set to work segregating the federal government. Wilson’s own sympathy for Jim Crow and states’ rights animated his decades-long hostility to the Susan B. Anthony Amendment, which promised universal suffrage backed by federal enforcement. Women demonstrating for voting rights found themselves demonized in government propaganda, beaten and starved while illegally imprisoned, and even confined to the insane asylum.

When, in the twilight of his second term, two-thirds of Congress stood on the threshold of passing the Anthony Amendment, Wilson abruptly switched his position. But in sympathy with like-minded southern Democrats, he endorsed a plan to rewrite the Anthony Amendment to protect Jim Crow restrictions on the voting rights of Black women. The heroes responsible for the eventual success of the unadulterated Anthony Amendment are brought to life by Christopher Cox, an author steeped in the ways of Washington and political power. This is a “Pulitzer Prize–worthy history” (The Washington Examiner) that puts you at the center of one of the greatest advances in the history of American democracy.

Reseñas de la Crítica

"In fascinating detail, this audiobook reveals the life of Woodrow Wilson, including his opposition to racial equality and women’s right to vote. Narrated by Jonathan Davis, the biography highlights the many traits that made Wilson a leader, while also exposing the contradictions that have made him such an interesting and ultimately controversial figure. Davis is an excellent choice as narrator. At times, he uses a tone reminiscent of a newscaster; at other times, he brings a tone of incredulity. Sometimes, you can hear derision in his voice. The picture of Wilson that emerges is that of a complex man unsuited for his moment in history when he had no choice but to confront those issues."

A Needed Biography

This is an excellent addition to Wilson scholarship. This biography is narrow in scope but goes into great depth to study WW's attitudes and policies concerning women's suffrage and the movement for women's equality in general. Because of this focus, the author also reveals Wilson's thinking on race and universal male suffrage. I am a history buff so I am aware of WW's deep and intense opposition to voting rights and social equality for women and Black men. But Cox's work does a great job of revealing to readers just how that opposition shaped Wilson's life, his times, and American history.

A very Detailed and Pedantic Biography

Although I learned a lot about a rather underhanded, sexist, and racist President (sound familiar today?), the book was so dry and laden with details that I found it hard to follow at times. There were other moments I just lost interest. However, it was worth learning the reality behind Wilson.

heavy on women's struggle to vote & racism...

...but well written, researched and performed. It was long, but worth the read. Enjoyed and recommended.

Clarifies an important. In American history.

For a long while, Woodrow Wilson Was listed by default as one of America’s greatest presidents. More recently, the fact that he was a racist has become more widely recognized. Cox”s book does more than shed light on this view. It documents the disturbingly depth of Wilson’s bigotry, his influence on the passing of the Espionage Act and and the willingness to exercise it’s authority to violate the first amendment to a terrifying degree, particularly against those activist advocating women’s suffrage.

Woodrow was a Southern bigot

The author is balanced on Woodrow. He covers the man’s vast failings-racist, chauvinist, cold, unchanging mind his whole life. Supported KKK and fired blacks in White House and other staff. Supported Jim Crow laws and advised how to circumvent blacks and women’s right to vote. He was a sham academic too. The Democrats hold him up as a great President.

Wilson As Misogynist and Racist

This is an unflattering picture of Wilson. Following an intro to Wilson’s boyhood and young adulthood, that expose his racist and misogynistic roots, the subject seems to be Women’s Suffrage rather than Wilson. Wilson is shown to be a poor scholar who played a gifted one. The story of how he gained the Presidency is an embarrassing example of how the U.S. selects its leader. There is a very detailed account of the suffrage movement and Wilson’s steadfast objection to it. The mistreatment and torture of the suffragists during Wilson’s presidency is shocking, as is the treatment of Blacks. Interesting story, well performed.

The clarity of Cox’s writing. The liveliness of the reading.

It got a little too much in the weeds at times in the last third.

Wilson’s two faced repulsiveness on civil rights and suffrage.

T. Woodrow Wilson was an unabashed bigot hidden behind a thin veneer of obfuscation. This book is very well put together, written with attention to detail and spells out the hypocrisy behind a man who should never have been president, except for dirty party politics and a national campaign that split to Republican vote between Taft and Roosevelt. Everyone should read this book.

Long Overdue Takedown of Wilson, but...

Less a biography of Wilson than a history of the suffrage movement and race relations in the United States tied to Wilson's life story. Wilson continually damns himself out of his own mouth, and Cox revels in the revelations. However, there is so much material here to support his thesis that it makes his forays into hyperbole unnecessary and unwarranted. For example, he makes much of one of Wilson's classes at Bryn Mawr consisting in one case of only 7 students, and another of only one. Sounds awful, but he leaves out the key fact that, at the time, Bryn Mawr had a total of 42 students.

The other big flaw is that he never makes clear how Wilson became a national figure. The first part of the book paints a picture of a vain, lazy, racist narcissist who lives off his parents and never completes a school. Yet, suddenly people are throwing PhDs at him, he's President of Princeton, and he has such a national profile he is being suggested as a presidential candidate. Cox is so busy tearing Wilson down, he never adequately explains how he rose to prominence. I felt the desire to denigrate him was so great, it left out much that would help us understand the man and the times.

Woodrow Wilson was a horrible President

The truth about Wilson who opposed voting for anyone except white males. The real story.