A Different Sort of Counterfactual

People have speculated in the past about how the Civil War would have been different if it were televised. This speculation has usually followed one of two lines of inquiry: would Abraham Lincoln have been a viable presidential candidate in the age of television, and how would Americans have reacted to televised images of the battlefield, especially the death and carnage?

Frankly, I don’t find either line of discussion as compelling as do some others. Continue reading