And yet, the country has reassured as they’ve crossed it. There’ve been two thousand miles of sturdy houses, well-kept lawns, and bright flowers—“a windbreak . . . against the erosion of the times; each one a place where roots go down to hold the soil.” The schools look better than ever before. The people, “habituated to peace,” are unfailingly kind. And never again, DeVoto vows, “would I speak condescendingly of the radio.” For suddenly, “out of advertisements for cereals and shaving lotions, you get an instrument of democracy.” No one this time will be able to say “that the Americans did not
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