Come On In, America: The United States in World War I

Osborne, Linda Barrett. Come On In, America: The United States in World War I. 2017. 170p. ISBN 1-41972378-2. Available as an eBook from Overdrive.

Starting in the 1890s, the industrial and economic might of the United States began to exert itself. As the world powers collided in 1914, none of them could imagine how long and destructive the war would be. As it dragged on, however, both sides fighting in Europe, the Central Powers of Germany, Austro-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire against the Allies of Britain, France, Italy, and Russia, hoped to keep the United States out of the war. The Allies purchased war material from the Americans, but a majority of Americans did not want to get involved. With large immigrant populations coming from both sides, the country had divided loyalties.

With a British blockade of Germany, the Germans announced unrestricted submarine warfare. The sinking of the Lusitania with 1,200 casualties including over 120 American victims, moved the country ever so closer to war. Further submarine attacks were enough to trigger the United States’ entry in World War I on the side of the Allies, and the arrival of millions of men and equipment tipped the scale to an Allied victory.

But even while Americans were fighting for Democracy against Empires in Europe, there were battles to be fought here in the United States. Racism and segregation were still in effect and were viciously enforced. Women could not vote. Workers had few rights. Big businesses and banks were getting rich. When war was declared, people who did not agree immediately became suspect of being subversives and traitors. How could Americans reconcile themselves between the values they were fighting for and the way they lived at home?

This book explores not only the history of the United States’ entry and participation in World War I, but also the impact the war had at home on the country’s institutions, businesses, and people.