Main currents in American thought

The late war the first in our history that has produced an aftermath of searching criticism in fiction or drama. The romantic note dominant in all earlier accounts, particularly of the Revolution and the Rebellion. Such stories written by men who took no part in them. The Civil War produced only one book of realistic criticism, that was mutilated by the publisher to temper its cynicism, and that enjoyed no popularity—The Recollections of a Private, by Warren Goss. The late war is producing a considerable group, all realistic and critical; the romantic note has not yet appeared.