Один мир: манифест и путевые заметки Уэнделла Уилки

Manifesto and travelogue by Wendell Willkie

One World is a manifesto and a travelogue written by Wendell Willkie, a liberal Republican, about his seven week, 31,000 mile tour. Originally published in April 1943, it advocates for an end to colonialism, world federalism, and equality for non whites in the United States. One World inspired the One World movement and the World Federalist Movement — which included among its supporters Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru —and advocated strong and democratic super national institutions. That wave of thinking foretold the postwar international order, including the United Nations System, but was also very critical of the postwar order and the UN, claiming it is insufficient to avoid another world war. Willkie was accompanied on his tour by, among others, the publisher and editor Gardner Cowles, Jr., who ultimately assisted Willkie in the writing of One World (which was edited by Irita Van Doren).

One World "became the greatest nonfiction bestseller to date in US publishing history." It spent four months atop the New York Times bestseller list beginning in May 1943 and selling over 1.5 million copies during those four months. Harold Urey wrote of it, "Wendell Willkie left a monument more enduring than granite in the words 'One World' ” The title One World could influence the title of the famous trilogy One World or None (1946), implying that this is the alternative in the atomic age. The editor of Publishers Weekly hailed One World as a 'record breaking non fiction best seller,' a phenomenon 'unequaled since the days of the old blue backed 'speller'—Noah Webster's Revolutionary era guide to the new American English. The success of the book caught Willkie by surprise and the proceeds from the book went to war relief agencies in Britain, Russia, and China. Matthew Rozsa of Salon wrote in 2022 that the book has "an unintentionally humorous subtext" because of Willkie's rumored affair with then Chinese First Lady Soong Meiling, who was described in the book as having "a generous and understanding heart, a gracious and beautiful manner and appearance, and a burning conviction." Rozsa added that Willkie's book is still relevant because of global issues like "the climate crisis, massive inequality, the rising threat of fascism and the threat of nuclear war."