ABSTRACT
The "good years" before the pre-war had many more lynchings than the more famously violent period after. The public sphere was creative in the years before the war; it was inept or supine in the years afterward. There was one dominant figure in American life in the years before the war, and he was a political figure. Production for war, anticipated by a council of national defence, changed business and government relationships permanently. Edmund Wilson stood athwart the pre-war and war years, cajoling, leading, commanding, making his presence felt in every sphere of national life, giving it a tone. Wilson's style was the high achievement of "the years before," never possible again in the same combination. The twenties were to try to stand for everything opposite to the generation of the years before. While reacting against Wilson, Americans in the twenties lived in the aftermath of Wilson's acts, words, and tone.
