Kennedy writes in depth about the domestic front in the World War I era. I liked this book a bunch. Some concepts it helped put in perspective:-- The scale of the undertaking involved in managing WWI - building an army, developing transportation, getting industry in shape to support the war, mobilizing public opinion - was massive compared to anything that had preceded it (especially in the relative calm of the preceding 50 years). It took "big government" methods to get the job done, including an income tax and a draft. Pretty much no going back once we headed down this path.
--The country was packed with immigrants, including folks from Axis powers. Lots of effort made to get their minds right.
--The Civil War was actually pretty fresh in everyone's minds in terms of tactics and heritage. It had "only" ended 52 years prior to entering WW I (by comparison, WWII ended 62 years ago
and doesn't seem all that distant). In the meantime, the Army had pretty much shut down, just chasing Native Americans around and doing jobs in places like the Phillipines. Army structure had to be built.
--The politicians feel no different than what could be happening today. And industry figured plenty ofways to profit.
--So many Americans got out of their locale for the first time. Alvin York as played by Gary Cooper may have been a somewhat extreme case, but it seems there was lots of this.
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