America 250 · 1914–1929
WWI & The Twenties
America wins a war it stayed out of for three years, then spends a decade trying to forget.
From Sarajevo to the Crash — the Lusitania, Wilson's Fourteen Points, the doughboys, Prohibition, the Lost Generation, the Harlem Renaissance, the Charleston. The decade in which America became, briefly, what its critics had warned it would become.
Presidents who served
Histories
To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918
Adam Hochschild · 2011
WWI from the dissidents — pacifists, conscientious objectors, suffragists who saw the war differently.
Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920s
Frederick Lewis Allen · 1931
Published two years after the era ended — the original popular history of the Twenties, still in print.
Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania
Erik Larson · 2015
The May 1915 sinking that pulled American opinion toward the war — Larson on the ship, the U-boat, and the calendar.
Lives
Wilson
A. Scott Berg · 2013
The wartime presidency and the League of Nations campaign that ended his health.
Fiction
The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald · 1925
The era-defining novel. Long Island, 1922; rich people and the people who watched them.
A Farewell to Arms
Ernest Hemingway · 1929
Hemingway's war novel — an American ambulance driver on the Italian front.
On screen
Gallipoli
Peter Weir · 1981
Australian, not American, but the canonical WWI film — the 1915 campaign that became Australia's war myth.
Boardwalk Empire
Terence Winter · 2010
HBO five-season drama on Prohibition-era Atlantic City — Steve Buscemi as Nucky Thompson, Scorsese in the pilot.
Common questions
What is the best book to start learning about the WWI & The Twenties era?
For an overview of the decade, Frederick Lewis Allen's Only Yesterday provides an informal history of the 1920s. To understand the conflict that preceded the decade, Adam Hochschild's To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918 is an essential account of the WWI period.
Why does the WWI & The Twenties era matter in American history?
This era marks a transformation where America emerged as a global power following its involvement in WWI. The subsequent decade was defined by a shift toward hedonism and cultural change, including the Harlem Renaissance and Prohibition, as the nation attempted to move past the trauma of the Great War.
What film best represents the WWI & The Twenties era?
The 1981 film Gallipoli is the recommended screen treatment for this era. It captures the military experience of the period, reflecting the broader themes of the WWI conflict that set the stage for the societal shifts and the eventual economic crash that defined the following decade.
How many U.S. presidents served during the WWI & The Twenties era?
There were three U.S. presidents who served during the WWI & The Twenties era. Their administrations oversaw the transition from the global instability of the Great War and the implementation of the Fourteen Points to the domestic social changes and economic volatility that characterized the 1920s.
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