Economic issues that gave rise to the populist party include declining economic prospects, high freight rates for farmers and the growth of powerful corporates. The populist party sought to reverse the slugging economic and stop powerful corporate interests from controlling government. The populists advocated for public ownership of railroads and direct election of senators
In 1942, West Virginia enacted a law that required students and teachers to salute the American flag and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. When Walter Barnette, a Jehovah’s Witness, refused to do so on the grounds that it contradicted his religious beliefs, he was expelled from school. On June 14, 1943, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette that forcing individuals to salute the flag was a violation of their freedom of speech and religion.
The main point of the excerpt is that readers should be aware of the damage that the war has done to a generation of men who were impacted by it, and read the book with this idea in mind.
The epigraph wants to make sure that readers who approach this book do it with the same purpose as the one with which the author wrote it. He does not want the readers to think of this book as an accusation, a confession or an adventure.
