The typical view of the 1920s as it appears in textbooks and other readings is a time of excess-when if there were any time of excess in American history it surely would be the present moment, 2004-05, when personal incomes have never been higher, consumption (despite ups and downs) at its most opulent. The 1920s, with President Calvin Coolidge setting the scene, was a staid time, comparatively. And it marked an entire era, 1917-33, which might be described as the 1920s figuratively speaking, when the American nation and its people moved, not always asking where they were going, into the twentieth century, which new century was to show developments, domestic and foreign, that would have been unimaginable to Americans of an earlier age. Robert Ferrell taught for many years at Indiana University in Bloomington, where he was Distinguished Professor of History.

Author:  Robert Ferrell

Duration: 01:09:53

Published: 2006-10-10

Tag: robert ferrell   ferrell   calvin coolidge   coolidge   1920s   twenties