The Twenties in America

A principal theme of the 1920s was "paradox," and Professor Carter explains the tensions that existed between city and country, progress and nostalgia for the past, progressive attitudes and the persistence of bigotry. Carter also provides incisive reevaluations of some archetypal figures of the era, such as Coolidge, Lindbergh, and Hemingway, and suggests new ways of considering events and developments such as jazz, popular sports, the Scopes trial, and isolationism.

One: Of Bohemians and Consumers 1

Lost Generation, or Joyful Pioneers? 3

Radicalism Rampant, or Conservatism Triumphant? 11

Sports, Jazz, and Other Vocations 21

Two: Of Coolidge and Hemingway 35

The Talkative President—and the Critics 39

Big Society and Belittled Religion 50

The Hero in an Unheroic Age 59

Three: Of Town and Country 71

The Peerless Leader and the Gotham Cockney 76

The Ape in the Tree of Knowledge 83

Megalopolis versus Gopher Prairie 92

Suggestions for Further Study 106

Index 117

Paul A. Carter is the author of The Twenties in America, 2nd Edition, published by Wiley.