In The Educational Legacy of Woodrow Wilson, James Axtell
brings together essays by eight leading historians and one historically minded political scientist
to examine the long, formative academic phase of Wilson's career and its connection to his
relatively brief tenure in politics. Together, the essays provide a greatly revised picture of
Wilson's whole career and a deeply nuanced understanding of the evolution of his educational,
political, and social philosophy and policies, the ordering of his values and priorities, and the
seamless link between his academic and political lives. The contributors shed
light on Wilson's unexpected rise to the governorship of New Jersey and the presidency, and
how he prepared for elective office through his long study of government and the practice of
academic politics, which he deemed no less fierce than that of Washington. In both spheres he was
enormously successful, propelling a string of progressive reforms through faculty and legislative
forums. Only after he was beset by health problems and events beyond his control did he fail to push
his academic and postwar agendas to their logical, idealistic conclusions.
Contributors: James Axtell, College of William and Mary * Victoria Bissell
Brown, Grinnell College * John Milton Cooper Jr., University of Wisconsin * Stanley N. Katz,
Princeton University * W. Bruce Leslie, SUNY-Brockport * Adam R. Nelson, University of
Wisconsin * Mark R. Nemec, Forrester Research * John R. Thelin, University of Kentucky *
Trygve Throntveit, Harvard University
