The Roaring ’20s:
The Birth of Modern America
The Roaring ’20s (Chapters 13-14):
The Birth of Modern America
THEMES
• Why was the ’20s a time of transition  what old & new ideas clashed?
• What made the ’20s “roar”?
• What made the economy boom?
IDEAS / CONTENT / TOPICS
Political
Economic
Social
Entertainment (Fun!)
The Roaring ’20s
Background/Influences
What did the 1920s “look like”?
POLITICAL
ECONOMIC
SOCIAL
Effects/How was the
USA changed?
• The 1920s was a decade during which some
Americans wanted to look to cling to the
comforts of the past, while others looked to
the promise of the future.
- country values versus big city life
- law & order versus “roaring” recklessness
- Fundamentalism versus “New Morality”
- discrimination & nativism versus civil rights
- internationalism versus isolationism
- management versus unions
"Old" Culture
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
"New" Culture
Emphasized Production
Character
Scarcity
Religion
Idealized the Past
Local Culture
Substance
Emphasized Consumption
Personality/Celebrity
Abundance
Science
Looked to the Future
Mass Culture
Image