by Patricia Nell Warren

About the author: Patricia Nell Warren, author of The Front Runner and The Wild Man, writes essays and commentary for various publications.

Judging by what I see in the media, it’s hard to know that America is at war. Other than bombing raids and anthrax scares at the top of the news, and flags fluttering on cars (already a bit tattered), and ongoing fundraising for U.S. victims of the terrorist attacks, it’s business as usual. Advertising still shows us the glossy pre-9/11 world in which people’s most picayune product choices get epic treatment. Looking at HGTV’s dream homes and the Home Shopping Network’s zirconium jewelry, we get little clue that thousands of people died in the World Trade Center, or...