U.S. History
Mr. Detjen
Ch. 23 Reading/Study Guide
“Modern Times and Monkey Trials, 1920-1932”
I. Outline. The following is a sparse, minimalist outline of the topics you will encounter in the text. Your
task is to expand this framework into an annotated form with lots of additional references and supporting
statements from the text. Each Roman Numeral (I, II, III…) might reasonably contain a summary sentence or
short paragraph that explains the “big picture” issue(s) addressed in each section; certainly each Capital Letter
(A, B, C…) should be followed by anywhere from 4-5 to 10-15 supporting statements from the text. The goal,
the purpose of an effective outline is to provide you with enough comprehensive review information that you do
not have to go back and read the text again on the night before an exam. The better outline you write at the
outset, the more time you save when you really need it.
I. The Business-Government Partnership of the 1920s
A. Politics in the Republican “New Era”
B. Corporate Capitalism
C. Economic Expansion Abroad
D. Foreign Policy in the 1920s
II. A New National Culture
A. A Consumer Society
B. The World of the Automobile
C. The Movies and Mass Culture
III. Redefining American Identity
A. The Rise of Nativism
B. Legislating Values: Evolution and Prohibition
C. Intellectual Crosscurrents
D. Culture Wars: The Election of 1928
IV. The Onset of the Great Depression, 1929–1932
A. Causes and Consequences
B. Herbert Hoover Responds
C. Rising Discontent
D. The 1932 Election
II. IDs and SIGs. For each of the following terms, write 3-5 sentences that situate the person/event/idea in its
historical context, and an additional 1-2 sentences that analyze its importance in that context or beyond.
Oligopoly
Welfare capitalism
Isolationism
Nationalization
Nativism
Fundamentalism
Business cycle
Pump priming
Self-made man
the “Associated State”
The Election of 1924
Federal Maternity and Infancy Act
McNary-Haugen Bills
Atkins v. Children’s Hospital
United Fruit Company
Fordney-McCumber Tariff
Dawes Plan
Washington Naval Conference
Speakeasy
Babbitt
Universal Negro Improvement Association
“Black Thursday”
Hawley-Smoot Tariff
Reconstruction Finance Corporation
“Hooverville”
“Buy now, Pay later”
Madison Avenue
Clara Bow
Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong
Columbia Broadcasting Service
immigrant restriction
Birth of a Nation
John T. Scopes
The “New” Klan
Zora Neale Hurston
Election of 1928
“Bonus Army”
Election of 1932
III. Chapter Review Questions. These should be multi-paragraph responses with lots of supporting evidence
from the text and other source knowledge. You should demonstrate quite impressive understanding and analysis
of the chapter’s contents.
1. What were the main cultural conflicts of the 1920s? Are they the same or different from the “culture wars” of
the present?
2. This chapter is titled “Modern Times.” What was especially “modern” about the 1920s that made the decade
stand out from previous years?
3. Describe the continuing process of state building in the 1920s. In what ways did the government become
more or less active in society, the economy, and American culture?
4. What problems in the American economy were exposed by the onset and crisis of the Great Depression? To
what extent did those economic problems reflect social problems, especially social inequality?