This book recounts the tales of individual Americans, some well-known and some not, who strove to understand their nation and its place in the world in the roiled years 1935–41. David Mayers identifies these individuals as 'seekers' and 'partisans.' Primarily disillusioned idealists, both on the left and right, they hurried from America to explore and be part of a different world. Among those featured are John Robinson, a Black aviator who in 1935 led the Ethiopian air force against the Italian invasion; Agnes Smedley, who joined the Chinese communists during the Sino-Japanese war; eminent Black civil rights theorist W. E. B. Du Bois; Helen Keller, an advocate of the seeing- and hearing-impaired; architect Philip Johnson; Ezra Pound, a lauded poet who championed Mussolini; and Anna Louise Strong, drawn to Stalin's USSR. The lives and stories of this diverse group shed light on the contested nature of American ambitions, aims, and national purpose, and destabilize what it means to be 'American.'

‘David Mayers provides the reader with a beautifully written, methodologically significant, historical account of the most interesting, albeit under explored, periods in American history, the years 1935 to 1941.’

Sarah-Jane Corke - University of New Brunswick

‘Like knights from Camelot, David Mayers’ sprawling and truly superlative book follows some twenty of the best and brightest women and men of every American faith, race, and prejudice to the world’s Holy Grails even as their own land of opportunity languished.’

David Levering Lewis - Pulitzer Prize recipient and author of W.E.B. Du Bois: The Fight for Equality and the American Century, 1919-1963

‘David Mayers has written a remarkable portrait of American men and women who traveled abroad during the late 1930s. His vivid writing and shrewd analysis place these observers in context and explain why they found it so difficult to understand the drift of events. This is a fascinating book that should be widely read.’

Charles E. Neu - Emeritus Professor of History, Brown University

‘Against a backdrop of world war and global depression, David Mayers reveals the depth and breadth of American internationalism in the 1930s and 40s. His disparate, eclectic, often surprising cast of ‘seekers and partisans’ provide a fascinating lens through which to interpret the US in the world at a critical moment in history.’

Andrew Preston - author of Total Defense: The New Deal and the Invention of National Security

‘At a time when the world looks a more uncertain place than it has for decades, David Mayers reminds us that some Americans have always been tempted to look abroad for answers. He writes with flair, irony, on occasions humour, but always with great precision and respect for the source material. Any reader of this wonderful book will have their favourite character.’

Andrew Williams - University of St Andrews