This book was created in 1915, when Europe was already engrossed in the “Great War” (World War I), and America was predominately still an isolationist nation. There was obviously much debate over whether America should become involved in the war, for many and good reasons.
There about 165 pages of text/opinions.
Since this book was produced in London, it’s intent must surely have been to garner support for American entry into, and/or support of the War. The “opinions” are compiled from various sources, such as essays, books, articles, etc. There are actually 61 opinions, though one opinion is written in French.
Most of the authors are unknown in our modern world, though many are historically recognizable; for example, Theodore Roosevelt is a contributor, as was William Howard Taft
The original Preface provides a good description of the book:
THE object of this little book is to show how many friends we have in America.
The selection of "American Views" does not pretend to be exhaustive. If time had allowed, it would doubtless have been easy to cite the favourable opinions of many other Americans as eminent as those here represented.
As a rule those individuals whose opinions have been published in book or pamphlet form are purposely quoted at much less length than those whose contributions have appeared in newspapers or private letters only.
The cordial thanks of the compilers are due to the Authors, Editors, and Publishers whose generosity has made the collection possible.
The contributions have, for obvious reasons, been arranged in alphabetical order.
The original Table of Contents:
1. LAURENCE F. ABBOTT, 2. CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, 3. GE0RGE BURTON ADAMS, 4. ADELBERT HENRY ALDEN, 5. ROBERT BACON, 6. JAMES MONTG0MERY BECK, 7. GE0RGE LOUIS BEER, 8. EDWARD PRICE BELL, 9. POULTNEY BIGELOW, 10. EDGAR EWING BRANDON, 11. JOHN BURROUGHS, 12 JOHN JAY CHAPMAN, 13. JOSEPH H. CHOATE, 14. SAMUEL HARDEN CHURCH, 15. HELEN GRAY CONE, 16. RALPH ADAMS CRAM, 17. RICHARD HARDING DAVIS, 18.CHARLES WILLIAM ELI0T, 19. JOSEPH C. FRALEY, 20. JOHN CLINTON GRAY, 21. WILLIAM GRAHAM HALE, 22. HENRY NOBLE HALL, 23. GE0RGE McLEAN HARPER, 24. ALBERT BUSHNELL HART, 25. GEORGE HARVEY, 26. J0HN GRIER HIBBEN, 27. HENRY MARI0N HOWE, 28. WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS, 29. HENRY JAMES, 30. ROBERT UNDERWOOD JOHNSON,
31. ROBERT M. JOHNSTON, 32. DAVID STARR JORDAN 33. SINCLAIR KENNEDY, 34. GEORGE TRUMBULL LADD, 35. ARTHUR ONCKEN LOVEJOY, 36. WILLIAM MACDONALD, 37. JAMES BRANDER MATTHEWS, 38. CHARLES LEONARD MOORE, 39. SARA NORTON, 40. FRANK ILSLEY PARADISE, 41. CHARLES HENRY PARKHURST, 42. E. ALEXANDER POWELL, 43. MORTON PRINCE, 44. GEORGE HAVEN PUTNAM, 45. AGNES REPPLIER, 46. THEODORE ROOSEVELT, 47. FRANKLIN BENJAMIN SANBORN, 48. ELIZABETH SERGEANT, 49. ALBERT SHAW, 50. ALBION W. SMALL, 51. LANGDON CHEVES STEWARDSON, 52. CHARLES WILLIAM SUPER, 53. WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT, 54. JAMES MONROE TAYLOR, 55. GLANVILLE TERRELL, 56. WILLIAM ROSCOE THAYER, 57. ROLAND USHER, 58. BARRETT WENDELL, 59. J. WILLIAM WHITE, 60. JASPER WHITING, 61. FREDERICK W. WHITRIDGE
