The Roaring Twenties

Almost immediately after the great war, Americans began to shift focus, rather than concentrate on plague and war they began to focus on entertainment and quality of life. New art styles emerged, new music, and new dances to fit this ever-evolving society. Along with new styles came an influx of revenue and wealth for the American people. This new revenue brought forward many ideas, and ways to present them. Advertisements became very popular, and with their newfound wealth, people found themselves succumbing to their deceitful lures. These advertisements could include anything from a new dress to even purchasing an entire house, all through the convenience of mail. It wouldn't be until many years after that this decade would be remembered as the “roaring twenties”, both for its good and its bad. The jazz music and flappers take center stage drownding out the sounds of a corrupt and torn America crying for help. While prohibition was passed to better serve the American people, its true effect was much more destructive than one could have foreseen. Crime would take over much of the cities and America as a whole, underground bars served the once legal drug offering an escape from what was around these citizens daily. Mob bosses and gangs roamed the streets daring the police to stop them, with alcohol now illegal it had only increased their numbers, power, influence, and of course profits. In addition to crime and violence, controversial topics such as the Scopes trial divided the nation into two, one-half siding with their religious beliefs while the other with science. The nation felt as if its way of life was under attack, under attack by its own government. While the opposing side understood that their children's education was at stake, and they sought to defend America from itself. It was both the good and the bad that made the 1920’s “roaring”, but unfortunately with the introduction of World War two, many of its people and history would be out shadowed leaving us only with a generation roaring to be heard.