Six Major Prophets

August 4, 1914, cuts time in two “like a knife,” Edwin E. Slosson writes—and suddenly George Bernard Shaw’s once-joking warnings look terribly serious. Why does a man England dislikes seem more right than ever?

In the upheaval of the First World War, old reputations shift as sharply as mountains seen from a departing train. Journalist Slosson sets out to understand six influential thinkers he has never met, beginning with Shaw: playwright, critic, and stubborn contrarian, now boycotted by the press but still drawing packed audiences. His opinions have made him both a target and an inconvenient guide; the war has changed the country around him, bringing his arguments into a new and unsettling light. Across these portraits, who among the age’s supposed prophets saw what was coming—and who merely spoke with confidence?

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