HIS 384/CRN 46618
The Roaring Twenties
Canisius College, Spring 2013, TR 11:30 am-12:45 pm, Old Main 408xxx
Dr. Bruce Dierenfield CT607 (888-2683) dierenfb@canisius.edu
Office hours: MWF 8:30 am-3 pm, TR 10 am-11am, 1 pm-2 pm & by appointment
“There are no second acts in American lives.”
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Course Description
This course examines the extraordinary decade of the 1920s in America, which saw the “noble
experiment” of Prohibition, the hedonism of “flaming youth,” the changing role of women; the
automobile revolution; and the reactions of white supremacists, Christian Fundamentalists,
writers, and the “New Negro.” It was also a time of escapism, following a generation of reform
and the horror of the Great War. Many Americans now delighted in gold-fish swallowing, flagpole sitting, bathtub gin and Al Capone, larger-than-life athletic contests, and movie-watching of
vamps like Clara Bow. There was never a decade like it before or since.
Objectives
1. Develop a clear understanding of the personalities and social, political, and economic
developments of the 1920s.
2. Evaluate a variety of first-hand materials from the 1920s (e.g., films, speeches, reports,
letters) from a historian’s perspective.
3. Practice and improve oral and written communication skills.
Teaching Methodology
This course will be taught topically, primarily, except for subjects at the beginning and end of the
1920s when chronology can be more clearly followed. Besides lectures, the course will feature
audiovisual presentations, often original music, radio programs, and films. Student participation
in the form of questions and observations is not only welcomed but expected.
Requirements (These requirements are subject to change based on student enrollment and student performance).
1. Attendance
mandatory
Students are permitted two unauthorized absences without substantial penalty, including course failure.
Please keep the instructor informed when absences become chronic.
2. Discussion
10 percent
Students should keep current with the assigned reading and contribute regularly to class discussion.
Audiovisual presentations should also elicit student comment.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Movie review
Midterm (optional)
Term paper or Radio program
Final exam
October 20
October 27
December 1
December 15
10 percent
20 percent
30 percent
30 percent
100 percent
If you have any condition, such as a physical or mental disability, which will make it difficult for you to carry out
the work as prescribed or which will require extra time on examinations, please notify the instructor in the first two
weeks of the course so that appropriate arrangements can be made.
Books (available in paperback in the college bookstore)
Lynn Dumenil, The Modern Temper: American Culture and Society in the 1920s, 1995
Edward Behr, Prohibition: Thirteen Years That Changed America, 1996
Steven Watson, the Harlem Renaissance: Hub of African-American Culture, 1920-1930, 1995
Edward Larson, Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America’s Continuing Debate Over
Science and Religion, 1997
Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises, 1926
KKK in the 1920sxxx
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Jeffrey Moran, The Scopes Trial: A Brief History with Documents, 2002
Daniel Okrent, Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition, 2010 (4 parts)
Michael Lerner, Dry Manhattan: Prohibition in New York City, 2007
Barry Hankins, Jesus and Gin: Evangelicalism, the Roaring Twenties and Today’s Culture Wars,
2010
James Fentress, Eminent Gangsters: Immigrants and the Birth of Organized Crime in America,
2010
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Douglas Abrams, Selling the Old-Time Religion: American Fundamentalism and Mass Culture,
1920-1940, 2001
Frederick Lewis Allen, Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the Nineteen-Twenties, 1931
Bruce Barton, The Man Nobody Knows, 1925
John Barry, Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America,
1997
Paul Carter, Another Part of the Twenties, 1977
Pete Daniel, Deep’n as It Come: The 1927 Mississippi River Flood, 1977
Ann Douglas, Terrible Honesty: Mongrel Manhattan in the 1920s, 1995
George Douglas, The Early Days of Radio Broadcasting, 1987
Scott Ellsworth, Death in a Promised Land:L The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921, 1982
Melvin Ely, The Adventures of Amos ‘n’ Andy: A Social History of an American Phenomenon,
1991
Stuart Ewen, Captains of Consciousness: Advertising and the Social Roots of the Consumer
Culture, 1976
Paula Fass, The Damned and the Beautiful: American Youth in the 1920s, 1977
James Flink, The Car Culture, 1975
Kathryn Fuller, At the Picture Show: Sall-Town Audiences and the Creation of Movie Fan
Culture, 1996
David Goldberg, Discontented America: The United States in the 1920s, 1999
Ian Gordon, Comic Strips and Consumer Culture, 1890-1945, 1998
Harvey Green, The Uncertainty of Everyday Life, 1915-1945, 1992
John Hallwas, The Bootlegger: A Story of Small-Town America, 1998
Suellen Hoy, Chasing Dirt: The American Pursuit of Cleanliness, 1995
Nathan Huggins, Harlem Renaissance, 1971
Kenneth Jackson, The Ku Klux Klan in the Cities, 1915-1930, 1967
Jackson Lears, Fables of Abundance: A Cultural Histroy of Advertising in America, 1994
J. Stanley Lemons, The Woman Citizen: Social Feminism in the 1920s, 1971
William Leuchtenberg, The Perils of Prospertity, 1914-1932, 1955
David Levering Lewis, When Harlem Was in Vogue, 1981
Thomas Lewis, Empire of the Air: The Men who Made Radio, 1991
Robert & Helen Lynd, Middletown: A Study in Modern American Culture, 1929
Roland Marchand, Advertising the American Dream: Making Way for Modernity, 1920-1940,
1985
Lary May, Screening Out the Past: The Birth of Mass Culture and the motion Picture Industry,
1980
David Nye, Electrifying America: Social Meanings of a New Technology, 1880-1940, 1990
Joan Shelley Rubin, The Making of Middle-brow Culture, 1992
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Movie Review
Students are expected to write a review of at least two films produced in the 1920s, including the
following which will be screened in class, i.e., The Gold Rush, It, The Jazz Singer, and
The Sheik. You may also select and review other films from that decade which are available
from the college’s Media Center or video retail outlets around town.
The purpose of this 3-5 page assignment is to examine the films for evidence of American life in
the Roaring Twenties.
The best reviews will be those that are comparative, detailed, and insightful.
Term Paper
Students are expected to write a 10-15 page term paper on any aspect of life (esp. society,
culture, politics, and the economy) in the 1920s. These papers should draw upon reputable
secondary works and contemporary newspaper and magazine accounts. See the bibliography at
the back of this syllabus for initial research suggestions.
Students intending to order materials from interlibrary loan (ILL) should be forewarned that this
can be a lengthy and occasionally unreliable process. Please see me and librarian Sally DiCarlo
to discuss the feasibility of your planned request. Your best strategy is to check area libraries
before using ILL.
Use Kate Turabian’s Manual on Style for endnote and bibliographic form. Students may
purchase a copy of this writer’s bible in the college bookstore or rely on a distillation of the
Manual that will be distributed to the class.
Superior papers contain the following characteristics:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
narrowly focused topic
thorough research among a variety of rich sources
clear statement of purpose and subsequently developed reasonable argument
vivid, revealing quotations and examples/stories
no typographical, spelling, or grammatical errors
correct notation (endnotes permitted) and bibliographic form
Hints:
The best papers are invariably the ones which are begun early in the semester,
checked by the instructor, and rewritten.
To guard against loss or theft, make a copy of your paper before submission.
Warnings:
Papers recycled from other courses will be failed.
Computer difficulties do not justify lateness.
Papers without notation for all borrowed material and bibliographic references
will not be read.
Papers which rehash secondary works will receive “D’s.”
Plagiarized papers (i.e., the theft of published writing) will be failed.
Possible Paper Topics
The following titles may be modified to reflect your own research angle or interpretation. Obtain instructor
approval for other paper topics, some of which may be located on pp. 12-16 of this syllabus.
A Puritan in Babylon: The Life and Times of Calvin Coolidge
The 1928 Election: A Study in Religious Prejudice
“I’m the Law in Indiana”: David G. Stephenson and the Fall of the Ku Klux Klan
Bootlegging in Buffalo
Anarchist Martyrs: The Trial & Execution of Sacco and Vanzetti
Henry Ford—Antisemite
Car Culture: How the Model T Changed America
The Wild Life of F. Scott Fitzgerald
When Harlem Was in Vogue
Angelic Aimee: The Extraordinary Career of Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson
False Hope: American Diplomacy in the 1920s
A Black Horatio Alger: Louis Armstrong and American Jazz
Forgotten Farmers: Depressed Agriculture in an Age of Prosperity
Americans on the Couch: Freudian Psychology in the 1920s
Flaming Youth: Young Americans as Seen in Popular Culture
Fundamentalism on Trial: The Scopes Monkey Trial in Dayton, Tennessee
H.L. Mencken: The Sage of Baltimore & His Victims
Middle America as Viewed in 1920s’ Advertisements
The Wit & Wisdom of Sportswriter Grantland Rice
The New Negro as Seen Through the Eyes of Black Novelists
Sultan of Swat: The Legendary Life and Career of Babe Ruth
Alice Paul & The Origins of The Equal Rights Amendment
European Nirvana: American Literati Overseas
The Changing Lives of American Homemakers
The Cinematography of Cecil B. DeMille
Fads of the Twenties
The Botched Generation: American Society in the Writers’ Mind
Lucky Lindy: The Aerial Exploit of Charles Lindbergh
W.E.B. DuBois & The NAACP: The Crisis in American Race Relations
The Teapot Dome Scandal
Al Capone & Organized Crime During Prohibition
The Rising Popularity of Jazz
The Great Crash on Wall Street
“You Are There” Radio Program
Students wishing to prepare a radio program on the 1920s are advised to listen to old-time
programs. Programs prepared for this course must meet these stipulations:
1. reports & advertisements must be rooted in historical fact
2. a typescript must be prepared in advance and given to the instructor
3. practice delivery several times as did Ronald Reagan (a child of the 1920s)
These programs may consist of some or all of these parts:
a. news (domestic politics, international events, and business developments)
b. features (women, literature, religion, music, popular culture)
c. advertisements
d. social commentary (à la Mencken)
e. adventure/mystery/comedy segment
f. sports
Any programs that are prepared will substitute for the term paper and therefore count for 20
percent of the course grade. Time limitations allow for no more than three such programs with
two, three, or four students each.
Examination(s)
The midterm exam is optional and will consist of terms and essay questions. Students bypassing
the exam will have its 20 percent value redistributed to other assignments, especially the term
paper/radio program and final.
The final exam is cumulative and will consist of essay questions drawn from a list distributed
one week in advance.
Test answers will be evaluated according to reasonableness of interpretation;
comprehensiveness; abundance of pertinent evidence drawn from lectures, assigned readings,
audiovisual presentations, and your own research; and competitive ranking in class. Students
may present divergent interpretations from those advanced by the instructor or the authors we
read, but these views must be firmly supported by historical evidence.
Please use a blue-ink pen when writing your examination.
Grading
Student performance in the course will be judged by the following qualities:
references to the readings & audiovisual presentations
analytical statements
inclusion of specific examples
synthetic & summary remarks
If all students do well in their written and oral work, all will receive correspondingly high grades.
Course failures will be given to any student who sidesteps ANY of the requirements.
Term papers may not be submitted for dual credit in another course. Late papers will be
penalized a half grade per day after December 1. No papers will be accepted after December 8
without the instructor’s prior permission.
Course incompletes are granted at the instructor’s discretion. Customarily, incompletes are
approved only for medically documented illness, personal injury, or some other extraordinary
circumstance beyond student control. Incompletes will NOT be granted for tardy term papers.
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http://elenarazlogova.org/hist395/
https://thelearningprofessor.wikispaces.com/The+1920s
http://www.pbs.org/jazz/time/time_roaring.htm (Ken Burns Jazz)
http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/on-this-day/Aug/Italian-Born-Anarchists-Sacco-andVanzetti-Executed.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/monkeytrial/peopleevents/e_gospel.html (Monkey Trial)
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/monkeytrial/
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0525.html#article
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COURSE SCHEDULE
Presentations, Readings, Discussions
This schedule is subject to change depending on the pace of presentations, weather conditions, and the instructor’s health and other professional obligations.
Notification of class cancellation will be posted outside the classroom, or, if the college is closed, by radio broadcast.
DATES
T JAN 15
TOPICS
The Great Witch-hunt
R JAN 17
Wait Not, Want Not
T JAN 22
Uncle Warren & Silent Cal
R JAN 24
Damp Yankees
Organized Crime
READINGS/DOCUMENTS/WEBSITES
Lynn Dumenil, The Modern Temper,
pp. 218-226
A. Mitchell Palmer, “The Case Against
the Reds,” Forum (Feb. 1920), p. 63
Lynn Dumenil, The Modern Temper,
pp. 56-91
Henry Ford, My Life and Work, 1922,
excerpt
Earnest Calkins, Business the
Civilizer, 1928, pp. 1-3, 12-18
Lynn Dumenil, The Modern Temper,
pp. 15-55
Samuel Hopkins Adams, “The
Timely Death of President Harding,” 24 pgs.
William A. White, Autobiography, 1946,
p. 616
Lynn Dumenil, The Modern Temper,
pp. 226-235
Edward Behr, Prohibition: Thirteen Years
That Changed America, all
Felix von Luckner & Fiorello LaGuardia on
Prohibition
MULTI-MEDIA (tentative)
The Twenties*
The Roaring Twenties (online)
Henry Ford: Tin Lizzie Tycoon
& The Gold Rush*
The Jazz Age*
Warren G. Harding & Calvin Coolidge speeches
“Warren G. Harding for President” & “Keep
Coolidge”
Prohibition: Thirteen Years that Changed
America*
Part 1 (The Dry Crusade)
Part 2 (The Roaring Twenties)
Part 3(The Road to Repeal)
“Water Wagon: I’m Off the Stuff”
“Repeal”
The Prohibition Years: Birth of the American
Mafia
Public Enemy
T JAN 29
The New Negro
R JAN 31
Sheiks & Shebas
T FEB 5
R FEB 7
Spellbound in
Darkness
Radio
That Old Time Religion
T FEB 12
The Monkey Trial
R FEB 14
Bigotry in Bedsheets
T FEB 19
R FEB 21
PRESIDENTS’ DAY
Cross Words
Lynn Dumenil, The Modern Temper,
pp. 160-165, 283-302
Steven Watson, The Harlem Renaissance, all
Jeff Kisseloff, You Must Remember This,
1989, pp. 276-287
Lynn Dumenil, The Modern Temper,
pp. 98-144
Eleanor Wembridge, “Petting and the
Campus,” Survey (1 July 1925),
pp. 393-395
Lynn Dumenil, The Modern Temper,
pp. 91-95
Little Caesar
Wild Women Don’t Have the Blues*
Against the Odds: The Artists of the Harlem
Renaissance
The Sheik* & It*
The Jazz Singer*
Lynn Dumenil, The Modern Temper,
pp. 169-185, 191-200
Carey McWilliams, Aimee Semple
McPherson: “The Sunlight in MySoul,”
31 pgs.
Lynn Dumenil, The Modern Temper,
pp. 185-191
Edward Larson, Summer for the Gods, all
Jeffrey Moran, The Scopes Trial, excerpt
Lynn Dumenil, The Modern Temper,
pp. 201-217, 235-249
Robert Coughlan, “Konklave in Kokomo,”
1923, 15 pgs.
Hiram W. Evans, “Klan’s Fight for
Americanism,” North American Review
(Mar.-May 1926), excerpt
Elmer Gantry
Aimee Semple McPherson, “Life Begins at
Foursquare”
Lynn Dumenil, The Modern Temper,
pp. 145-160, 165-169
The Sun Also Rises*
F. Scott Fitzgerald*xxx
Inherit the Wind
Monkey Trial
Cross of Fire
“KIGY”
“A Christian in The
White House”
T FEB 26
R FEB 28
T MAR 5
R MAR 7
T MAR 12
R MAR 14
T MAR 19
R MAR 21
T MAR 26
MAR 28APR 7
T APR 9
R APR 11
T APR 16
R APR 18
T APR 23
R APR 25
T APR 30
R MAY 2
“Oh, How They Played the
Game!”
High Tide of the Twenties—1927
Gotterdammerung: Black
Tuesday on Wall Street
Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises, all
Gene Tunney, “My Fight with Jack
Dempsey,” 17 pgs
John Ward, “The Meaning of Lindberg’s
Flight,” American Quarterly, (1958),
pp. 3-16
Phil Stong, “The Last Days of Sacco and
Vanzetti,” 21 pgs.
Walter Lippmann, editorial, “Sacco &
Vanzetti,” New York World,
19 Aug. 1927
Fred Allen, Only Yesterday, pp. 241-281
EASTER RECESS
*Can be viewed in the Canisius College library (periodicals collection)
Babe Ruth
Mahjong
Lindbergh*
The Crash of 1929*