• Rolando@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      14
      ·
      3 months ago

      Everett True sees the inevitable danger:

      • autograph albums: collect notes from each other
      • yearbooks: add pictures, at the end of the year
      • facebooks: do it at the beginning of the year
      • Facebook: move it online, and spread scams and disinformation
    • DarkCloud@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      19
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      edit-2
      3 months ago

      Hemorrhoids and gout from a bad diet, lead poisoning from pipes, paint, and unchecked industrial pollution, a series of undiagnosed mental stemming from a mix of childhood neglect and an all pervasive system of corporal punishment, and a culture of violently paternalistic masculinity.

      Oh also the looming threat of WW1 breaking out.

      • Rolando@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        9
        ·
        3 months ago

        the looming threat of WW1 breaking out.

        Everything else you said sounds true, but in Illinois and Ohio where Condo (and presumably Everett) lived, this barely registered as a possibility. Even in Europe, the general consensus was that another European war would be as brief as the Franco-Prussian War (6 months), if not the Austro-Prussian War (5 weeks).

        This isn’t my area, but I think a lot of the stresses that Everett react to are due to the rapid urbanization that the US was experiencing at the time. Specifically, people moving from farms to cities, and immigrants arriving principally from Europe; cities growing larger and people having to learn new ways of getting along.