" (p. 326). This is the way the book summarizes the mood that was prevalent at the end of its time-frame--1940. That older isolation was shattered by World War II, and it can be argued that the industry of that conflict was what F.D.R. ultimately needed to bring the country out of the Depression.
The author's point of view here is America is a dynamic country that responds to a certain type of individual. What is interesting about Bryan is that he is most commonly identified with his image as the religious fundamentalist in the Scopes trial.
Hofstadter is very accurate in writing about H.L. Mencken's critical assessment of Bryan, and he admits that "if American intelligence coul
...