America in the Twenties: A History

by Geoffrey Perrett

A detailed, revisionist chronicle of key events & developments in the USA during the 1920s & the 30s focuses on the crosscurrents of change & innovation that transformed the nation.
Introduction
Normalcy
The High Tide of the 20s
Belshazzar's Feast
Purple Twilight
Notes
Bibliographical Essay
Index

Genres: History, Nonfiction

585 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Geoffrey Perrett is an author who writes about American history. His work focuses primarily upon the political dynamics that influence strategic and tactical military decisions, as well as broader political themes. He has published over thirteen books dealing with a variety of topics, among them the U.S. Presidency - including several biographies of iconic Presidents such as John F. Kennedy and Ulysses S. Grant - leading American military commanders such as Douglas MacArthur, and pivotal American military engagements.

Perrett was born in the UK and went on to serve in the U.S. Army for 3 years. Later he studied at Long Beach City College and then obtained his undergraduate degree summa cum laude from the University of Southern California in 1967. He was also elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He obtained his postgraduate degree from Harvard University in 1969 and then studied law at the University of California at Berkeley.

Reviews

[John Bolles · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will be reading this one again. Probably one of the best history books of this era that I have ever read.

[Lauren Albert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a narrative history, but chapters covering all the key events, people and issues of the period. The first 100 pages were tough going since the reader gets in those 100 pages to read about the flu epidemic, strike breaking, Sacco and Vanzetti, and the Ku Klux Klan. Not happy going. His twenties seemed to me darker one that the stereotype.

It is truly amazing all of the things that happened during the twenties. Just some: Margaret Sanger's crusade for the legalization of birth control, prohibition, women's suffrage, Lindbergh's flight, the Scopes trial, and the founding of Reader's Digest and Time Magazine as well as the Book of the Month Club and the Literary Guild. Perrett covers the rising popularity of sports both professional and college. He makes an interesting case for a connection between rising car ownership and the financial crisis. Cars were the first consumer goods (besides homes) that were available on credit. Once the taboo on borrowing was breached, the middle class proceeded to get themselves in hock buying items for which credit was now available--refrigerators, etc. The problem was that purchases like these, unlike purchases like food and clothes, soon saturate the market. Once everyone has a car and a refrigerator, etc., sales drop precipitously as they will not need to be replaced for quite a while. I don't know enough about the economics of the depression to judge its truth but it is an interesting argument.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic history book on America during the 1920s, it made Frederick Lewis Allen's book, "Only Yesterday," look more like a gossip column than history.

The chapters are thorough, covering: the labor movement; the Left; immigration, unions, the I.W.W., Post WWI cultural shifts, corporate crime, Pinkertons; the Woman's Suffrage Movement; Bohemian New York; the Klu Klux Klan epidemic; major social and political upheavals;the sexual revolution; Margaret Sanger and contraceptives; the progressive, conservative and often times corrupt Presidential Administrations and their role in shaping International Relations.

Written beautifully, a kiss to the fingertips, can't wait to read Perret's other histories, particularly, "A Dream of Greatness: The American People" which seems to be done in a similar style.

[Erik Graff · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was interested in reading this history because Dad was born in the twenties and because this was the period of the youths of my grandparents and great uncles and aunts, the background for many of their better stories, the source of many of the artifacts in their homes.

It was better than expected. Parrett (aka Parret) writes and organizes his cultural history of the United States of the twenties very well, interweaving enough historical background to meaningfully set off his illuminating excurses into such topics as the invention and marketing of sanitary napkins. He makes the period relevant to the present and come alive to the imagination. Humor, much appreciated in a history book or lecture, pervades the text.

[Kevin Findley · Rating 3 out of 5]

To be honest, I was disappointed. The author's personal disdain for what he called the "Victorian/Puritan/Frontier Past" and the parts of the U.S. in its grip was blatant and jarring.

The saving grace of the book is just how well people and events are referenced. It is an excellent source for high school students or college freshmen writing papers and looking for a wealth of source material lists.

Mr. Perrett obviously has a love for American history. He just should have left his personal opinions out of it.

[Betty · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the book to read to wash away the myths of the 1920s. Every chapter brought a new insight for me about a decade that was the transition of America from predominantly rural to a more urban, industrial society. He covers politics, labor, sport, race, economics in language that is geared for the non-historian.

[Tom Hooker · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this as research for a book I'm writing. It is a thorough examination of life in the third decade in the U.S.