Ebel's work presents us with what we might consider a backdrop for our current national situation. Namely, it is a calculated description of a country that is concerned with, at least nominally, doing God's will upon the earth. Here, in our day and age, we witness the commercialization of war and military force. Images of "god," country, and family are juxtaposed next to one another as if unified by a common, Christian bond. Certainly, we are familiar with the following sentiments: "[...]the most striking dimensions of the wartime literature is the extent to which Americans involved in the Great War embraced violent death in the war effort as salvific."[1]

How did we arrive at our present position?
The content of Ebel's book marks the starting point of a nation bound for significant international interaction, and, moreover, a uniquely distinct view of the American people as a policing people--persons concerned with the good of the world, so to speak. The shift from the Civil War to World War I is a shift from internal to external, from national to nationalistic, and from killing in the face of death to death in the face of killing. Ultimately, it is the American experience of the Great War that has paved the way for America, not only as a "world power," but as a "Christian nation."



[1] p. 76