Main Themes 1. How the automobile boom and new technology led to the economic expansion of the 1920s. 2. That most workers and farmers failed to share equitably in the decade's prosperity. 3. How a nationwide consumer-oriented culture began to shape society and how the "new woman" emerged. 4. How the changing society disenchanted some artists and intellectuals and led to broad cultural conflict over ethnic and religious concerns. 5. That Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, despite their dissimilar personalities, presided over ardently pro-business administrations.
| Learning Objectives A thorough study of Chapter Twenty-Four should enable the student to understand: |
|
|
|
The reasons for the industrial boom in the 1920s after the initial period of economic readjustment following World War I. |
|
|
|
The nature and extent of labor's problems. |
|
|
|
The plight of the American farmer. |
|
|
|
The changes in the American way of life and American values in the 1920s in the areas of consumerism, communications, religion, and the role of women. |
|
|
|
The reflection of these changed values in American literature and art. |
|
|
|
The effects of prohibition on American politics and society. |
|
|
|
The reasons for xenophobia and racial unrest in the 1920s. |
|
|
|
The debacle of the Harding administration. |
|
|
|
The pro-business tendencies of the Republican administration in the 1920s. |