Real Men at War

William Wellman's Battleground

Whenever I say that the last century has been impoverished in the arts, the first objection I meet is that I've fallen for an illusion. The argument is thus: Most of the art in any period is trash. We sift through it, so that what is great endures, and we forget the rest. The art of our time is no different. We just haven't yet done the sifting.

My first reply is to deny the premise. Most of the art in any period is not trash. Most of it, like the handicrafts in any healthy culture, ranges from the workmanlike to the superb, before you get to the masterpieces.

But my second...