H.L. Mencken on the popularity and thrill of war

There is, indeed, nothing in all this world that can match war for popularity. It is, to at least nine people out of ten, the supreme circus of circuses, the show beyond compare, it is Hollywood multiplied by ten thousand. It combines the excitements of a bullfight, a revival, a train wreck, and a lynching. It is a hunt for public enemies with a million Dillingers scattered through the woods. It is the dizziest, gaudiest, grandest, damnedest sort of bust that the human mind can imagine.

~ H.L. Mencken, "Peace on Earth - Why We Have Wars," 1936

(I thought this quote was fitting on a day Americans celebrate the life of one of their beloved war presidents, George H.W. Bush.)

Spectators at the First Battle of Bull Run
July 21, 1861