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The Wilsonian Moment: Self-Determination and the International Origins of Anticolonial Nationalism. By Erez Manela. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007. xviii, 331 pp. $29.95, ISBN 978-0-19-517615-5.)
In this excellent book, Erez Manela focuses on the pivotal years after World War I, which he defines as "the Wilsonian moment." He examines the global impact of Woodrow Wilson's call for a new world order based on national self-determination and equality of nations. That message resonated in the colonial world, giving hope to nationalist movements. In particular, Manela explores the way anticolonial nationalists in Egypt, India, China, and Korea appropriated the president's words to advocate independence from the great powers that dominated the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. Expecting him to bolster their claims during the negotiations, those leaders used Wilsonian rhetoric to justify their...