Reflections and Comments 1865-1895

The battlefield has come into every home: railroads, telegraphs, and newspapers let the public watch war “under every man's and woman's eyes.” Yet the more fiercely people long for peace, Edwin Lawrence Godkin argues, the harder peace may become.

In these essays from 1865 to 1895, Godkin examines a society transformed by mass communication, commerce, and the growing force of public opinion. He sees peace advocates condemning war’s slaughter while soldiers and their families understand sacrifice as duty—and asks what can change a nation’s mind before pride, passion, and the press send it marching. If appeals to pity cannot stop a war, what must be confronted before the cannon roar?

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