American Decades


Book Description

Intended as a reference source for American social history, this volume discusses the people, events and ideas of the 1940s. After an introductory overview and chronology, subject chapters follow with subject-specific timelines and alphabetically arranged entries.




The Great Gatsby


Book Description

Set in the 1920's Jazz Age on Long Island, The Great Gatsby chronicles narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with the mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and Gatsby's obsession to reunite with his former lover, the beautiful Daisy Buchanan. First published in 1925, the book has enthralled generations of readers and is considered one of the greatest American novels.




THE ROARING TWENTIES


Book Description

The 1920s is one of the most fascinating decades in American history, when the seeds of modern American life were sown. It was a time of prosperity and recovery from war, when women's roles began to change and advertising and credit made it desirable and easy to acquire a vast array of new products. But there was a dark side of crime and corruption, racial intolerance, hard times for immigrants and farmers, and an impending financial collapse. The Roaring Twenties: Discover the Era of Prohibition, Flappers, and Jazz explores all the different aspects of the time, from literature and music to politics, fashion, economics, and invention. To experience one of the most vibrant eras in US history, readers will debate the pros and cons of prohibition, create an advertising campaign for a new product, and analyze and compare events leading to the stock market crashes of 1929 and 2008. The Roaring Twenties meets common core state standards in language arts for reading informational text and literary nonfiction and is aligned with Next Generation Science Standards. Guided Reading Levels and Lexile measurements indicate grade level and text complexity.




American History: A Very Short Introduction


Book Description

This volume in Oxford's A Very Short Introduction series offers a concise, readable narrative of the vast span of American history, from the earliest human migrations to the early twenty-first century when the United States loomed as a global power and comprised a complex multi-cultural society of more than 300 million people. The narrative is organized around major interpretive themes, with facts and dates introduced as needed to illustrate these themes. The emphasis throughout is on clarity and accessibility to the interested non-specialist.




Woman and the New Race


Book Description

Are overburdened mothers justified in their appeals for contraceptives or abortions?... Will anyone... dare to say to these women that they should go on bringing helpless children in to the world to share their misery?... To say to these women that they should continue their helpless breeding of the helpless is stupid brutality. -from "Avoiding Childbirth" An iconic figure in the fight for reproductive rights for women in America, Margaret Sanger was a powerful voice in the early years of the 20th century. This 1920 book is Sanger's cry for the legalization of birth control and the education of women about their own bodies. With a fiery passion, she discusses: .women's struggle for freedom .the wickedness of creating large families .contraceptives or abortion? .legislating woman's morals .and more. An important record of the beginnings of the feminism in the modern era, Sanger's words remain vital and necessary at a time when women's control over their bodies continues to be challenged. American activist MARGARET HIGGINS SANGER (1879-1966) was an early advocate of birth control; she served as president of the International Planned Parenthood Federation from 1952 to 1959. She also wrote Happiness in Marriage (1926) and her autobiography (1938).




The Twenties in America


Book Description

Flappers, prohibition, jazz, and the Lost Generation.'The Twenties in America' examines the iconic personalties and moments of this uproarious decade. The encyclopedia serves as a valuable source of reliable information and keen insights for today's students.




Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920's


Book Description

Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920s by Frederick Lewis Allen is a history textbook about the lively gloriousness of Roaring 20s America. Contents: "II. BACK TO NORMALCY III. THE BIG RED SCARE IV. AMERICA CONVALESCENT V. THE REVOLUTION IN MANNERS AND MORALS VI. HARDING AND THE SCANDALS VII. COOLIDGE PROSPERITY VIII. THE BALLYHOO YEARS IX. THE REVOLT OF THE HIGHBROWS X. ALCOHOL AND AL CAPONE XI. HOME, SWEET FLORIDA."




Locarno Revisited


Book Description

This collection of essays examines European politics and diplomacy in the 1920s, with special emphasis on the Treaty of Locarno of 1925, often seen as the 'real' peace treaty at the end of the First World War. Contributors discuss the diplomacy of the principle countries that signed the Treaty of Locarno in 1925 and consider the issues of greatest importance to the study of European history in the 1920s. They also assess whether the treaty could be seen as the 'real' peace treaty with Germany at the end of the First World War. Key chapters include: Locarno, Britain and the Security of Europe; Locarno: Early Test of Fascist Intentions; Locarno and the Irrelevance of Disarmament. 'Locarno diplomacy' meant different things to each of the countries involved. The inability of contemporaries to arrive at a working consensus about what the treaty was intended to achieve weakened it and paved the way for its destruction. Unlike the Paris Peace Conference, however, the Treaty of Locarno and the era of diplomacy to which it gave its name, were not always seen as flawed. Until 1945, they were held up as one of the high points of European diplomacy in the 1920s. This book asks whether it is still appropriate to under-rate the importance of the Treaty of Locarno




Housing and Mortgage Markets in Historical Perspective


Book Description

The central role of the housing market in the recent recession raised a series of questions about similar episodes throughout economic history. Were the underlying causes of housing and mortgage crises the same in earlier episodes? Has the onset and spread of crises changed over time? How have previous policy interventions either damaged or improved long-run market performance and stability? This volume begins to answer these questions, providing a much-needed context for understanding recent events by examining how historical housing and mortgage markets worked—and how they sometimes failed. Renowned economic historians Eugene N. White, Kenneth Snowden, and Price Fishback survey the foundational research on housing crises, comparing that of the 1930s to that of the early 2000s in order to authoritatively identify what contributed to each crisis. Later chapters explore notable historical experiences with mortgage securitization and the role that federal policy played in the surge in home ownership between 1940 and 1960. By providing a broad historical overview of housing and mortgage markets, the volume offers valuable new insights to inform future policy debates.




The American West (1836-1900)


Book Description

Defining Documents in American History: The American West offers a broad range of historical documents on important figures and topics in American West research. Written by historians and experts in the field, this resource examines a wide array of primary source documents with an in-depth critical analysis. Articles begin by introducing the reader to the document's historical context, followed by a description of the author's life and circumstances in which the document was written. A document analysis guides readers in understanding key elements of language, rhetoric, and social and political meaning that define the significance of the author and the document in American history.