Fitting literary allusions are out. Jarring clips from Hollywood movies are in
It is June 6th 1944. The second world war is in its fifth year. Millions are dead. Much of Europe lies in ruins. The fate of the war now hangs on a single stretch of water. In the English Channel 150,000 troops mass. The American president addresses his people. But despite the bloodshed, his mood is not bloodthirsty. Americans fight, he says, “not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest.” His ally Winston Churchill will match this tone in his history, which he opens with a “moral”. “IN WAR: RESOLUTION. IN DEFEAT: DEFIANCE. IN VICTORY: MAGNANIMITY”.
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Uncivil war”
From the April 25th 2026 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents