This week marks 150 years since the battle of Antietam. 23,000 Americans dead, wounded captured or missing. A self-inflicted wound, recorded for posterity by some of the first modern battlefield photography by Mathew Brady and his associates, depicting death, dismemberment and rot in its black and white glory. There are also wonderful photos of Abraham Lincoln (he was tall) and his generals including General McClellan though. Soon after Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation – a high price to pay but perhaps the only way. 150 years later American soldiers are not fighting on U.S. soil but still facing death and dismemberment for dubious political reasons. You’d think we would have learned a bit by now.
Look again.