In this book, the author uses the year 1927 as the archetypical year of the Roaring Twenties. If we believe that the past is indeed prologue, then the Twenties set the stage for modern America. The author uses many examples to show how society, business and politics of 21st Century America had its antecedents during this decade.
America was being transformed from an agrarian society to an urban society. Whether it should become an international society was a struggle with profound political and religious implications. There were strong competing interests favoring an international role as well as an isolationist role.
The book begins with the prosperity and “normalcy” of the Coolidge administration. Unfortunately Americans assumed that prosperity was the new normal and continue forever. Ninety years later America faced the same dilemma. That lesson is apropos of the Workman and Temple families and their respective financial problems.
Also discussed by the author are the impacts on society of the emerging rights movements affecting women and African Americans. The decade began with women getting the right to vote and shedding the physical, emotional and societal constraints of the Victorian Age. African American left the South and became the urban force which continues today. Both groups began to define themselves rather than be defined by society’s elites.
The decade saw important technological developments in transportation and communication, such as the automobile, airplane, radio and television. Full implementation would have to await the end of the Depression and World War II, but the seeds were planted in the Twenties.
The docent at the Homestead Museum will receive a clear picture of societal changes that affected the people of southern California and the Temple family.
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