Books: Tragedy in Two Acts

WILSON: THE ROAD TO THE WHITE HOUSE (528 pp.) — Arthur S. Link—Princeton University ($5).

One hot afternoon in July 1912, after a long week of bargaining, arguing and good Maryland rye, the Democratic Convention at Baltimore picked their man. The argument about their choice has been going on ever since, and this book will add to it.

Never before had the U.S. electorate chosen a President who had not served in Congress or the Army, or put in a long apprenticeship somewhere in public office. Woodrow Wilson's record had been suspiciously highbrow and severely private: he had written and taught for nearly...