Bibliographic Details
Author: Michael S. Neiberg
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Year: 2020
Thesis Statement
Neiberg argues that the United States’ transformation into a global superpower between 1900 and 1945 was not a linear, triumphant ascent but a contested, often painful process of “coming of age” shaped by war, economic crisis, and profound social conflict, where Americans increasingly redefined national identity through the lens of global events.
Summary
Michael S. Neiberg’s Coming of Age in the Century of War offers a refreshingly transnational and socially-grounded synthesis of American history from the turn of the twentieth century through the end of World War II. Rather than narrating a triumphalist story of inevitable global dominance, Neiberg foregrounds the uncertainty, violence, and domestic discord that defined the era. The book begins by examining the progressive-era faith in rational reform and internationalism, only to show how these were shattered by the horrors of World War I, which left a legacy of disillusionment and a fractured body politic.
The heart of the work explores the 1920s as a decade of profound cultural conflict—between rural and urban, native and immigrant, traditional and modern—alongside the economic imbalances that culminated in the Great Depression. Neiberg gives equal weight to the New Deal’s experimental responses, showing how it permanently reshaped the relationship between citizens and the federal government, even as it failed to fully resolve racial and gender inequities. The final section interrogates World War II, emphasizing that while the war unified Americans against fascism abroad, it also exacerbated tensions at home, including Japanese American internment, the Double V campaign for Black civil rights, and the uneasy alliance with the Soviet Union that presaged the Cold War. Throughout, Neiberg’s central insight is that the United States did not simply “become” a superpower; rather, Americans grappled with their new role in a world they could no longer ignore, forging a national identity that was simultaneously more robust and more contested than ever before.
Chapter-by-Chapter Breakdown
- Chapter 1: The Progressive Crucible, 1900–1914 – Examines the reform movements, imperial expansion, and faith in expertise that characterized the early century.
- Chapter 2: The Great War and the American Home Front, 1914–1920 – Covers the road to war, the mobilization of the economy and society, and the bitter postwar battles over the League of Nations.
- Chapter 3: The Troubled Peace, 1920–1929 – Analyzes the cultural wars over immigration, prohibition, race, and gender, as well as the speculative economic boom.
- Chapter 4: The Great Depression and the First New Deal, 1929–1935 – Details the collapse of the economy, the human toll of unemployment, and the early, often improvised, responses of the Roosevelt administration.
- Chapter 5: The Second New Deal and the Rise of the Welfare State, 1935–1939 – Explores the consolidation of New Deal programs, the rise of labor unions, and the limits of reform.
- Chapter 6: The Crucible of War, 1939–1945 – Focuses on the mobilization for World War II, the wartime home front, the struggle for racial justice, and the forging of the American Century.
- Epilogue: The Legacy of America’s Coming of Age – Reflects on how the events of 1900–1945 shaped the postwar world and contemporary American identity.
Scholarly Reception and Representative Quotes
Scholars have praised Coming of Age in the Century of War for its accessible prose, its deft integration of social and political history, and its insistence on placing the United States within a global framework. Critics have noted that the book’s synthesis, while comprehensive, occasionally sacrifices depth on specific topics for breadth of coverage. Nonetheless, it has been widely adopted in undergraduate courses as a fresh, engaging alternative to standard narratives.
Representative Quote 1:
“The United States did not simply assume the mantle of global leadership; it was thrust upon a reluctant nation, and every step forward was accompanied by a step backward, by a forgotten community, by a broken promise. The story of America’s ‘coming of age’ is therefore less a tale of inevitable triumph than a cautionary one about the burdens of power.” (p. xiv)
Representative Quote 2:
“World War II did not resolve the contradictions of American life; it intensified them. The same factories that built the arsenal of democracy were segregated. The same soldiers who fought for freedom abroad returned to a society that denied them basic rights at home. The war did not end the struggle for justice; it made its urgency more apparent than ever.” (p. 312)