1920

Not too much conversation goes on in this group. Here's a try: Anybody read 1920: The Year of Six Presidents? I just finished it and found it to be splendid popular history. I learned a great deal about the era and the six protagonists who shaped the 1920 election. I ended the book with a higher opinion of Harding and Coolidge, a lower opinon of Wilson and FDR. TR? Not surprised that he loomed large even in death. Hoover was everyone's Golden Boy, courted by both parties. My how far and hard he would fall. Rections?

That sounds really good; I'd like to read more about politics, so I may have to see if I can get it at the local library. Do you have any other suggestions for books about the '20s? I was wracking my brain for any books I'd read about the period, as a way to spur more discussion, but I'm coming up blank.

Corinne

I am not deeply read in this era. Here are a few that I recall reading.

Once Upon A Time in New York. It's about the flamboyant (and flamboyantly corrupt) NYC Mayor, Jimmy Walker and the trial that finally brought him down.

A Flame of Pure Fire. You probably won't enjoy this unless you have a modicum of interest in boxing. However, there is also a lot of good Jazz Age color in it. Jack Dempsey, along with Babe Ruth, was one of the most popular athletes of the era.

A Question of Loyalty This is the story of Billy Mitchell, the WWI fighter pilot, who many consider the grandfather of the US Air Force. A true visionary, he anticipated the Japanese air assault on Pearl Harbor 15 years before the fact. The problem? He was too outspoken.

Ponzi's Scheme Had no idea there really was a guy named Ponzi. This is a fascinating story of the pyramid scheme he built out of other people's greed.

There's also a relatively recent Jazz Age book called Flappers by Joshua Zeitz. But I have not read it.

This one is from the previous decade, Triangle: The Fire That Changed America. An account of the Triangle factory fire in New York city. A very interesting book about New York at that time, the labor movement, immigration, Tammany Hall ...

All of these sound great - I'll have to add them to my ever-growing to-be-read pile. Thanks for the suggestions!

Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919. It's 1919 but close.

Eight Men Out : The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series (The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series) is another good book set in 1919. Interesting even if you don't care about baseball.

Great to see these suggestions. Speaking of the Black Sox scandal, the author of 1920: the year of six presidents has also written a bio on the guy who fixed the 1919 World Series. I have not read Rothstein: the life, times and murder of the criminal genius who fixed the 1919 World Series, but it is highly acclaimed by those who have.

Re: "Triangle" If I recall, this tragedy is where Al Smith first made his name and a woman named Frances Perkins took her first steps toward becoming the first female cabinent secretary.

Yes, Al Smith and Frances Perkins figure prominently in the story. Any suggestions for books about Al Smith ? He seems like a really interesting character.

I REALLY enjoyed Empire Statesman by Robert Slayton. Also, the PBS special on the history of New York City has an excellent segment on Smith, though I don't recall which episode it was.

gautherbelle, I really enjoyed Dark Tide - read most of it at one sitting! Puleo did a really good job of making the story flow quickly, and it really felt like it would be a fascinating PowerPoint or lecture, which is how the book came into being, I believe.

Regarding the post on 1920: The Year of Six Presidents: I recently read The Modern American Presidency by Lewis L. Gould and was left with similar impressions of the presidents you mention. Gould is interested in how they ran the presidency and not in their political views, so his take is based on administrative efficiency, success in getting legislation passed, etc., rather than on whether he liked their ideas.

Interesting suggestion, carlym, I'll have to check it out. Right now, I'm about half way through a new book called The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression. Amity Shlaes takes a critical look at FDR and the economic consequences of the New Deal. It was hardly the unalloyed triumph we learned about in high school. I plan to comment more about this book when I finish it. Hopefully this weekend.

Have you read Only Yesterday by Frederick Lewis Allen? It's a classic, written in the early 1930s, a popular history of the 20s. I read it in college (30 years ago) but I've never forgotten how great it was.

Let's see....

Only Yesterday? Read it, it's pretty good, but the presentation is rather stylized and ever so slightly preachy. Also it's sort of a pop history of the twenties, doesn't go in depth into the era. Still, a very good casual read and great introduction to the period.

A Flame of Pure Fire is very good. I read it last year and learned not only a lot about boxing in that era, but also a lot of history of the period as well. The author actually knew and interviewed Dempsey for the book and has some good anecdotal tales of the time period outside of the pure history.

I read an article in Smithsonian magazine about Ponzi by the author of Ponzi's Scheme. Sounds very interesting.

I have 1920: The Year of Six Presidents and Triangle: The Fire That Changed America to read and Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919on my wish list.

Thanks for the other recommendations! They all sound pretty good.

Now I have to read 1920: The Year of Six Presidents

Convict #9653 for President! (Eugene Debbs, the other name on the ballot)

I have read A Flame of Pure Fire and Ponzi Scheme. They are both excellent period pieces.

Great thread! keep these coming!

This looks like a good thread which should be revived. Here a couple of books which are worth reading:

3980. Daily Life in the United States, 1920-1940 How Americans Lived Through the "Roaring Twenties" and the Great Depression, by David E. Kyvig (read 29 Jan 2005)

4018. After Wilson The Struggle for the Democratic Party, 1920-1934, by Douglas B. Craig (read 29 Apr 2005)

Just finished Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition. Very excellent book.

Aviation really took off (pardon the pun) in the 1920s. I recommend The Big Jump covering the race to be first to fly non-stop between New York and Paris.

Second and third for Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition one of the best books read last year. What a history lesson!