1. The Moderns

2. After WWI… Loss of innocence Idealism turned to cynicism
Strong disillusionment with tradition

3. Writing
Bold experimentation and a rejection of traditional themes and styles
Literature was fraught with tension, struggling with deep universal questions yet never coming up with fully reliable answers.
Focus of writing shifted from merely recording the world in which they lived to saying something about that world, as well.

4. The “Roaring Twenties”
Two Amendments to the Constitution launched the decade and defined its character.
Prohibition— “Noble Experiment”
-Strove to uplift America’s moral character through the banishment of alcohol.
-Social climate of the era did not respond to this regulation
19th Amendment—Women’s right to vote

5. “The Jazz Age” Racy and unconventional New moral codes
Short-skirted flappers
Bobbed hair
Slang
Jazz Music
Stock market boomed
Rich spent money on parties and
expensive acquisitions
Automobile=symbol of glamour and
wealth

6. Coco Chanel—Celebrity Fashion Designer

7. Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald—famous flapper

8. Duke Ellington—Musician and band leader

9. Al Capone—Famous Gangster

10. Albert Einstein—Scientist

11. Babe Ruth—Baseball player

12. F. Scott Fitzgerald—author of The Great Gatsby

13. The Tenets of the American Dream
America is a new Eden, a “promised land” of beauty, unlimited resources, and endless opportunities.
The American birthright is one of expanding opportunity. We can optimistically expect life to keep getting better and better.
The independent, self-reliant individual will triumph. Everything is possible for the person who places trust in his or her own powers and potential.

14. What is today’s American dream?
How do you define the American dream now? (is there even an American dream anymore?)