| Additional Class Topics
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Additional Class Topics

For Further Interest: Additional Class Topics
Chapter 31: American Life in the Roaring Twenties, 1919 - 1929

  • Explore the ideology and actions of the 1920s Klan. Consider similarities and differences in relation to the Klan of Reconstruction.

  • Discuss the role of prohibition during the 1920s and its close relation to the rise of organized crime.

  • Explore the complex and sometimes contradictory cultural values of the decade as symbolically represented by Charles Lindberghs flight. Discuss how he symbolized technological innovation but also individual heroism in an increasingly mass society.

  • Consider the role of both black and white artists in changing American culture in the 1920s. Consider where writers like Fitzgerald and Hughes were reflecting similar concerns, and where their outlook was different.

  • Have the students read Randolph Bournes Trans-National America (1916) and Twilight of Idols (1917) in David A. Hollinger and Charles Cappers (Editors) The American Intellectual Tradition: Volume II 1865 to the Present, New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.

  • Conduct a class debate over the following topics: e.g., The Department of Justice Is Defending America from Communist Subversion, H.L. Mencken Critiques America, and Prohibition Is a Success; primary source readings will come from the following book: Opposing Viewpoints in American History Volume II: From Reconstruction to the Present, San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Another good source of debate topics is Larry Madaras and James M. SoRelle, Taking Sides Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in American History, Volume II: Reconstruction to the Present, Connecticut: McGraw-Hill, 2000.

  • Have the students read Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lees Inherit the Wind (1955); a play based on the events of the Scopes trial made into an award winning movie in 1960.

  • Have the students read selections from H.L. Menckens A Mencken Chrestomathy (1949) and A Second Mencken Chrestomathy (1995); two volumes collected and edited from the vast writings of H.L. Mencken, the American Voltaire.
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