Artists of Power: Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and Their Enduring Impact on U.S. Foreign Policy

Artists of Power: Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and Their Enduring Impact on U.S. Foreign Policy. Ed. by William N. Tilchin and Charles E. Neu. (Westport: Praeger, 2006. xxvi, 196 pp. $139.95, ISBN 0-275-97067-1.)

A convenient though not very trendy way of organizing one's understanding of history is to study leaders who incarnate great historical ideas. The editors of this volume believe that the foreign policies of Theodore Roosevelt (TR) and Woodrow Wilson set the pattern for U.S. foreign relations in the twentieth century.

The Roosevelt-Wilson comparison typically centers on differences rather than similarities, and as one might expect from this group of contributors, Roosevelt tends to get the better of the comparison. Serge Ricard, following a summary of TR'S policies as president, is not embarrassed to express his uncritical admiration, even adulation. "Roosevelt's stature irresistibly invites heroic interpretations of history, especially in foreign affairs, on which he left an indelible personal mark," he says-presumably he is not referring to the fingerprints that TR left behind on his Panama policy. Not quite so effusively, but still in...