Cooper (history, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison; Breaking the Heart of the World), arguably our leading Wilson authority, offers a comprehensive, felicitously written biography aimed at scholars but accessible to general readers, too. As Cooper notes, this "schoolmaster in politics" transmitted his thoughts on paper—a habit helpful to historians. Cooper mines Wilson's letters as well as the archival materials of Wilson colleagues. He admires Wilson for his faith, learning, eloquence, and executive skill while conceding that he had to learn foreign policy on the job—yet established America as an international player. Cooper considers Wilson hard-headed, with limited goals (World War I concluded not with total victory but with an armistice to save as many lives as possible). Unlike other scholars, Cooper claims that the Virginia-born Wilson was not an "obsessed white supremacist" but that his collegial governing style allowed cabinet members to introduce segregation throughout the federal government. And while his attorneys general violated civil liberties both during and after wartime, Cooper claims that FDR's abuses were even worse. VERDICT Highly recommended; readers are invited to wrestle with Cooper's favorable interpretation of Wilson's legacy and arrive at their own conclusions.—Frederick J. Augustyn Jr., Library of Congress

In this well-written biography, Unger (Lafayette) presents the fifth president as a man of independence and initiative rather than merely a disciple of Jefferson, Madison, and John Quincy Adams. In this respect, he follows Harry Ammon's assessment in James Monroe: The Quest for National Identity. Unger shows that as a diplomat, Monroe went beyond his ministerial instructions to negotiate treaties and the Louisiana Purchase, that as governor of Virginia he effectively used pronouncements to build public support for his policies, and that as President, he used his diplomatic, cabinet, and military experience to proclaim what became known as the Monroe Doctrine. The author's praise for Monroe should have been balanced by some questions about Monroe's ambition (and possible vanity). For example, during the War of 1812, how far did Monroe undermine Secretary of War John Armstrong so that he could take over the post himself? VERDICT Like Gary Hart's James Monroe, in the Times Books series of short presidential biographies, Unger's work will appeal to a more popular audience, especially those who enjoy presidential history or studying the Founding Fathers. Historians and history students should read as well but will still rely on Ammon.—Bryan Craig, MLS, Nellysford, VA

Waugh (history, Univ. of California, Los Angeles) explores the gap between historical perspective and collective memory that often shifts our sense of events or of figures within political, social, and economic contexts. Drawing upon Thomas L. Connelly's groundbreaking The Marble Man: Robert E. Lee and His Image in American Society and David W. Blight's more recent acclaimed Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory, she delves into the legacy of Ulysses S. Grant. Considering why, in the next century, Grant disappeared from popular memory, Waugh argues that after World War I a disillusioned population shunned the brutalities of war that Grant represented and that he was overshadowed by Robert E. Lee, who became closely identified with the Lost Cause interpretation of the war. By the early 1990s, Grant's reputation began to rise again as Lost Cause themes were dispelled and Grant's tomb was reopened to the public after a restoration. Ken Burns's award-winning Civil War documentary also showed Grant sympathetically. VERDICT This is a well-researched and scholarly work that Civil War enthusiasts will enjoy, provided they understand it's not meant to be a military or presidential biography. It would be an excellent supplementary text for graduate students and a welcome addition for academic libraries.—Gayla Koerting, Nebraska State Hist. Soc., Lincoln