War Fever

War Fever, by sports historians Randy Roberts and Johnny Smith, tells the story of Boston during the First World War through three men. Karl Muck was the German conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Charles Whittlesey was a Harvard Law student who was called up and became an unlikely leader. The third was Babe Ruth of the Red Sox. The war turned each of them into a public figure: one a villain, one a hero and one an athlete.

Boston lived on high alert throughout the conflict. Mines were anchored in the bay and a wire net was stretched across the channels to keep German submarines out, in case of an attack on the harbor. In a city of many ethnic groups, with interventionists and pacifists at odds, the war brought intolerance, hostility and xenophobia.

Muck allegedly refused to conduct the "Star-Spangled Banner" at a symphony concert. Federal agents detained him and accused him of espionage, and his arrest became a national scandal. He was branded a "dangerous enemy alien" and sent to an internment camp. Meanwhile, on the Western Front, Whittlesey became famous overnight when he refused to surrender the makeshift battalion under his command. Newspapers called his men "the Lost Battalion," and they came to symbolize American resolve in one of the war's bloodiest battles.

Ruth, perhaps the most famous German-American of his day, found the war transformative. It set him on the path from the game's most dominant left-handed pitcher to its greatest slugger. Together, the three stories show how a city and a nation faced the upheaval of a new world order and the unforeseen consequences of the war. The book combines a narrative of American culture in turmoil with a broader account of the conflict itself.