WWI in "Voices of Freedom" Book Review by write123

This paper discusses the period covered in the primary documentation associated with Chapter 19 of Eric Foner's "Voices of Freedom", as a period of transition. It states that the era surrounding World War I demonstrates a time when the definitions of intrinsic values were being challenged and reassessed almost on a constant basis. From 1916-1920 America was involved in reformulating what values it was said to hold dear and the official take on what those values mean was often one that did not meet with everyone's approval. From President Wilson's speech admonishing American business for being too isolationist and short sited in international dealings to the final work in which Fitch expresses the context of regional labor strikes, there is a sense of a collective demand for change as well as a reassertion of the cries for freedom and even a reevaluation of the very definitions of freedom and democracy. Furthermore, the author asserts that each of these messages, from texts and transcripts that were written and felt between 1916 and 1920, is a timely message about the modern world.