Two things make this slim volume unique. First is its focus on Colombia, one of five South American nations remaining neutral during World War I (the others were Venezuela, Argentina, Paraguay, and Chile). The circumstances surrounding their neutrality have been largely unexamined until now. The second of this book's unusual features derives from the fact that its author Jane M. Rausch is not an international relations specialist, but, instead, a Colombianist. Consequently her study of neutral Colombia in the time of the Great War is informed by significant information on Colombian domestic affairs during the period examined. This information is concentrated in the areas of politics, economics and social movements, adding to her study depth and nuance not often found in works on international relations.

Three key findings emerge from this study. First, despite Colombia's lack of direct involvement in the war, and notwithstanding its rudimentary level of development, it suffered serious war-related economic dislocation. Colombia's wartime President José Vicente Concha was a Conservative who addressed the economic downturn with a policy of fiscal austerity. This intensified poverty in an already poor country, brought about massive unemployment that in turn fanned the flames of social protest, and highlighted both the weakness of the national state and its relative unresponsiveness to war-related ills. Second among this monograph's overriding themes is the role that Colombia's strained relations with the United States played in its wartime neutrality, especially following 1917 when the latter entered the conflict. Colombia's anti-US policy reflected its concern over the loss of Panama in 1903 and anger with the United States for its imperialistic connivance in that loss. The question of Panama, and of broken Colombo-American relations, forms an important subtext running through this study. It explains why the author extends her history to 1921, the year the Panama imbroglio was resolved through ratification of the 1914 Thompson-Urrutia Treaty.

The study's third principal theme flows from its second. It is the fact that over the period considered it became ever more obvious that Colombia and the United States needed one another. The United States was the largest purchaser of Colombian coffee, revenues from which were vital to modernization of the Andean nation. The United States needed Colombian natural resources—petroleum and, even more, platinum—both important to its burgeoning automobile industry. During the war and over the three years following it, it became apparent that the two countries' failure to normalize relations harmed the national interests of both. The increasing pressure led the two countries to ratify the Thompson-Urrutia Treaty, normalizing US-Colombian relations.

The richness of detail found in Rausch's brief study of Colombia's experience during World War I can be illustrated in its treatment of Marco Fidel Suárez, Colombia's chief public figure during the years 1914 to 1921. Foreign minister during the war years and president from 1918 to 1921, Suárez is revealed as a man of positivist temperament, respected by the international community for his moderation, diplomatic acumen, and, especially, for his commitment to normalizing relations between his country and the United States. The author highlights Suárez's dogged effort to achieve ratification of the Panama treaty. Pursued by enemies within his own Conservative Party's nationalist, anti-American faction, and reviled by members of the opposition Liberal Party and by the Colombian public generally, Marco Fidel Suárez ultimately resigned the presidency in 1921 to smooth the way to passage of the Thomson-Urrutia Treaty. He is hence depicted as having sacrificed his personal well-being to the national good.

This study aids our understanding of a relatively neglected aspect of Latin American international relations. It does likewise for the history of early twentieth-century Colombia, a period little examined in the historiography of that country. The present writer hopes this monograph will soon be accompanied by companion volumes exploring the other South American nations that remained neutral during the Great War.