" ... the story of the changes that came to America ... in the years between the two World Wars. At first, as the 1920's dawn, there is the ultraconservatism that rejects Wilson's League of Nations, amends the Constitution to prohibit the sale of alcoholic beverages, suspects every immigrant of being a Red, and places TWK (meaning Trade With the Klan) stickers in merchant-members' shop windows. Then Henry Ford mass-produces flivvers that cost as little as $290, women get the vote, girls get a new concept of morality, and a freewheeling, flask-toting citizenry begins its surge to hedonism. They have plenty of examples to emulate: public officials get rich on purloined Navy oil while the President whom they betray dallies in the 'Little White House on H Street' or with his paramour in a little White House closet, the high jinks of high society and Hollywood are amply reported by a sensation-seeking press, the advertising fraternity urges everyone to keep up with the Joneses and endows [them] with everything. The great euphoria reaches its climax with the stock market crash ... Here you see what America was like when factories lay idle and old newspapers become 'Hoover blankets' for evicted families; when angry farmers gathered at foreclosure sales with pitchforks and shotguns to fight for their land; when the International Apple Shippers' Association offered apples on credit to the jobless to sell for five cents apiece on city streets; when Franklin Roosevelt said, 'This nation asks for action, and action now.' and started the kind of action that kept him in the White House for the rest of the Thirties and beyond. To be sure, there were many during those decades who did not drink bathtub gin and hanker for the sinful ways of the city, who were not wiped out by the economic downturn, did not hate 'that man in the White House.' These people are here too, some baffled, some belligerent, all caught in the crosscurrents of a nation in transition."--Jacket flaps.

The fads, diversions, artistic accomplishments, and manners of the lively era with profiles of prominent individuals

This is the first book to offer a comprehensive look at American life in the 1920s as framed by the aspirations, scandals, and attitudes of the Wilson, Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover presidencies. In fascinating detail, Goldberg examines how Victorian values were transformed into the freewheeling lifestyle of the Jazz Age and explores the effects of such far-reaching issues as isolationism vs. internationalism, massive immigration, labor-management relations, and the prevalence of big business. Even as he pierces the era's claim to being a time of "wonderful nonsense," Goldberg balances its giddy fads and foibles with a stinging critique of darker and/or significant social issues. From the rise of the Ku Klux Klan to black protests to the Scopes "Monkey Trial," from bootlegging and Prohibition to the Red Scare, Goldberg shows how the temper of the 1920s shaped the nation's future. Finally, he poses provocative questions about how mistakes might have been avoided and what consequences ensued.

"Douglas Brinkley and American Heritage have done a grand job. This is a first-rate book: fair, clear, and enormously welcome." - David McCullough "Douglas Brinkley's one-volume history is a riveting narrative of unique people who have come to call themselves American. There is no dust on these pages as the author brilliantly tells our national story with skill and brevity." In this rich and inspiring book, acclaimed historian Douglas Brinkley takes us on the incredible journey of the United States - a nation formed from a vast countryside on whose fringes thirteen small British colonies fought for their freedom, then established a democratic nation that spanned the continent, and went on to become a world power. This book will be treasured by anyone interested in the story of America.