Description
Book SynopsisThis collection situates over seventy essential primary documents in their historical context to illustrate the American experience during the interwar era (1919-1941).
- Introduces a broad range of cultural and historical topics, from race and the role of women to trends in literature and the Great Depression
- Includes a range of photographs and illustrations
- End-of-chapter questions encourage critical thinking and analysis, while a bibliography prepares students for further research
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations ix
Series Editors' Preface x
Source Acknowledgments xii
Introduction 1
Chapter 1 Challenges to Postwar Readjustment 10
1 W. E. B. DuBois, "Returning Soldiers," 1919 10
2 Jack Gaveel, Workers Need to Radicalize, 1919 12
3 A. Mitchell Palmer on Communism in America, 1920 15
4 Warren Harding, “Readjustment,” 1920 18
5 Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Immigration Hurts America, 1923 20
Chapter 2 Social Battles of the 1920s 24
1 Grand Dragon Hiram Evans on the Klan and Americanism, 1926 24
2 "The Menace of Fundamentalism," 1925 30
3 Edwin E. Slosson, "The Futility of Anti-Prohibition," 1920 32
4 "Why Boston Wishes to Hang Sacco and Vanzetti," 1927 34
Chapter 3 The New Negro 38
1 Floyd J. Calvin, Criticizing Southern Lynching, 1923 38
2 Marcus Garvey Addresses UNIA Supporters in Philadelphia, 1919 41
3 Alain Locke, "Harlem," 1925 43
4 Pace Phonograph Corporation, Supporting Black Businesses, 1921 47
5 Zora Neale Hurston, "How It Feels to Be Colored Me," 1928 49
6 Aaron Douglas, Aspects of Negro Life, 1934 and Into Bondage, 1936 52
Chapter 4 New Trends in Literature 55
1 Edna St. Vincent Millay, "Spring," 1920 55
2 Sinclair Lewis, Main Street, 1920 56
3 Countee Cullen, "Heritage," 1925 61
4 Nella Larsen, Quicksand, 1928 65
Chapter 5 Women in the 1920s 70
1 Viola I. Paradise, Housekeeping and Childcare in Rural Montana, 1919 70
2 Letters from Mothers to the Children's Bureau, 1920–7 74
3 Crystal Eastman, Radical Feminism, 1920 76
4 Margaret Sanger Defends Birth Control, 1923 79
5 Advertisement for Lysol Disinfectant: Tradition Meets the New Woman, 1928 82
Chapter 6 Mass Culture 85
1 Bruce Bliven, Radio's Promise and Pitfalls, 1924 85
2 Cartoons Celebrating Charles Lindbergh's Transatlantic Flight, 1927 89
3 Motion Pictures in Middletown, 1929 91
4 John R. Tunis on College Football, 1928 94
5 Paul Gallico Discusses the Relevance of Babe Ruth, 1932 97
Chapter 7 The Onset of the Great Depression 102
1 Paul Abbot on the National Economy, 1929 102
2 New York Times, First Day of the Crash, 1929 107
3 Herbert Hoover Speaks to the Press about the Economy, 1929 110
4 Calvin Coolidge, A Bright Economic Future If We Stay the Course, 1932 111
Chapter 8 To Fear or Not to Fear 116
1 Walter Lippmann, Candidate Franklin Roosevelt, 1932 116
2 Herbert Hoover, The Proposed New Deal Will Ruin Us, 1932 119
3 Franklin Roosevelt's Fireside Chat on Banking, 1933 122
4 Cartoon Celebrating the National Recovery Administration, 1933 126
Chapter 9 Voices from the Great Depression 129
1 Clarence Lee, Riding the Rails during the Great Depression, 1999 129
2 Ann Marie Low, Farming in the Dust Bowl, 1930–2 132
3 John L. Spivak, Migrant Farm Workers, 1934 136
4 Howard Kester, The Southern Tenant Farmers Union's "Ceremony of the Land," 1937 141
Chapter 10 The New Deal: Critics and Limitations 146
1 James P. Cannon, In Support of Unionization, 1934 146
2 Huey Long, "Every Man a King," 1934 148
3 Raymond E. Click to Franklin Roosevelt, The New Deal Means Socialism, 1935 152
4 The Saturday Evening Post Attacks Intrusive Government, 1935 153
5 Cartoons Denouncing the Court-Packing Plan, 1937 155
Chapter 11 People of Color in the Age of Roosevelt 159
1 Herman J. D. Carter, An Injustice at Scottsboro, 1933 159
2 James R. Reid, Joe Louis: African American Hero, 1938 161
3 John Collier on A New Deal for Native Americans, 1938 163
4 Eva Lowe (Chen Junqi) Describes Chinese American Life during the Depression, 1982 166
5 Luisa Moreno, Latinos and American Identity, 1940 169
Chapter 12 Women in the New Deal Era 174
1 Babe Didrikson: Viking Girl, 1932 174
2 Meridel Le Sueur, "I Was Marching," 1934 178
3 Bruce Gould and Beatrice Blackmar Gould, A Modern Marriage, 1937 182
4 Eleanor Roosevelt, "My Day," 1937, 1939 183
5 Letters from African American Women to the Federal Government, 1935–41 187
6 Dorothea Lange, Photos of Women Surviving Hard Times, 1939 192
Chapter 13 Raising the Walls in Turbulent Times 197
1 Henry Cabot Lodge Denounces the Proposed League of Nations, 1919 197
2 Harry Elmer Barnes, World War I Was a Mistake, 1926 200
3 Calvin Coolidge, Address to Congress Regarding the Invasion of Nicaragua, 1927 204
4 The Sinking of the Panay, 1937 206
Chapter 14 The Great Debate: America Encounters World War II 211
1 Franklin Roosevelt's Neutrality Message, 1939 211
2 Charles Lindbergh, America is Drifting toward War, 1940 214
3 Franklin Roosevelt, Fireside Chat on "An Arsenal of Democracy," 1940 217
4 A. Philip Randolph Calls for a March on Washington, 1941 222
5 Franklin Roosevelt Declares an Unlimited National Emergency, 1941 225
Chapter 15 Popular Culture and the Great Debate 228
1 Will Hays, The Motion Picture in a Changing World, 1940 228
2 Henry R. Luce, America and the War, 1940 230
3 Edward R. Murrow, This is London, 1940 234
4 War and Consumerism: Advertisements from Time Magazine, 1941 238
5 Harry Warner's Testimony to a Senate Subcommittee on War Propaganda in Film, 1941 243
Bibliography 247
Index 257
