Progressive Era, The: Temperance Crusade, The
Reformers during the progressive era direct much of their energy toward political issues but they also crusade on behalf of what they term moral issues, like the campaign to eliminate alcohol from the national scene. Prohibition is a clear example o...
Fallout: Sources of the Red Scare
The Korean War strengthens anti-communist fervor within U.S. The two greatest anti-radical movements in U.S. history occur at end of the two world wars, some of the ideological excesses of wartime spilling over into the post war period. After World ...
Way We Were?, The: Economic Miracle, The
For most Americans, the 1950s are years of astonishing prosperity in contrast to a world economy that has been devastated by the war. Europeans turn to socialism during this period while the U. S. grips the free enterprise system with enthusiasm, th...
Way We Were?, The: Suburban Nation, The
By 1960 a third of the nation's population lives in suburbs, an unprecedented demographic shift. The mass production of housing like Levittown creates what some critics call "architectural monotony." The industrial approach and lower price, however,...
Way We Were?, The: Bombs, Rockets, and Missiles
The United States detonates the first hydrogen bomb in 1952 based on the research of Edward Teller, Manhattan Project physicist. The development of hydrogen weapons sparks yet another race between the U. S. and Russia, the race to develop unmanned r...
Way We Were?, The: Consumer Culture, The
One of the most striking characteristics of the 1950s is the predominance of the middle class. They are "people of plenty," as one author calls them, a consumer culture, and their numbers include people whose families had been on the fringes of pove...
Way We Were?, The: Suburban Families
The great migration to the suburbs also influences family life and the roles men and women play. The fact that men tend to work in the city is often though to mean that women should care for things at home, an idea reinforced by several popular tele...
1920s...Beyond the Glitter, The: Conflict of Cultures
The secular culture that emerges in the 1920s coexists with an older, more provincial sect that views this "new era" as a threat to their way of life. Prohibition fails, the Ku Klux Klan expands their targets to not only African Americans, but newly...
1920s...Beyond the Glitter, The: Transition in American Cultural Life
The "Roaring Twenties" are a legendary but often misunderstood period in American history. Its events often recounted as a morality play. It is a time of transition in American culture as changes created by industrialization and urbanization take ho...
1920s...Beyond the Glitter, The: Labor in the New Era
The employment structure in the new mass production industries reveals a clear demarcation between white- and blue-collar workers. There is less autonomy but more prosperity for white-collar workers. The American Federation of Labor is the only exis...