In many ways the 1920's were the first decade of the 20th Century. The 1920's began with the United States still coming to grasp with its participation in World War I, a war that destroyed the remains of 19th Century Europe and America. There were great upheavals in the cultural and societal foundations of America. Writers, musicians and artist no longer attempted to extol the virtues of 19th Century rural America, but instead embraced a hedonistic, individualism that was personified in the quickened pace of the 20th Century American city. The Harlem Renaissance ushered in an era of renewed self-interest and respect among African-Americans in response to the growing oppression of Jim Crowism. Jazz brought a music expression to the new era and the prose of such writers as Fitzgerald, Stein, and Lewis gave voice to those who felt outrage at traditional America and sought a new America.

While the artistic voices in America were screaming for change, a quieter revolution was going on in the daily lives of many Americans. The availability of the automobile forever changed American life, particularly dating and courtship. The 1920's saw tremendous growth in the motion picture and radio industry as Americans sought out more avenues for entertainment. Finally it was a time of heroes, such as Charles Lindbergh, and fads, marathon dancing, mahjong, and raccoon coats. At Warren G. Harding's inauguration in 1921 he spoke of a desire to return to a "normal way of life," but that return to normalcy never occurred for millions of Americans, who instead of wanting to return the quieter, more surreal world of 19th Century America, chose the new century; the century that will forever be known as the American Century.

Although the first movies, silent films were first introduced in early part of the century, it was during the '20s that the the first "talkie," or a movie with talking in it, made its first appearance. While New York had been the center of entertainment, with its stages and theatres, during the 20's Hollywood, California became the hub for glitzy movie stars and the mass production of film. Stars such as Charlie Chaplin, Joan Crawford, Mary Pickford, Greta Garbo, and Douglas Fairbanks became national celebrities.

In 1922, people began to worry about the moral impact of film. William Hayes was was hired by the Motion Picture Producers and Directors of America to censor films for inappropriate content. This was the beginning of the rating system which classifies the content of movies today.

The flapper, whose antics were immortalized in the cartoons of John Held Jr., was the heroine of the Jazz Age. With short hair and a short skirt, with turned-down hose and powdered knees - the flapper must have seemed to her mother (the gentle Gibson girl of an earlier generation) like a rebel. No longer confined to home and tradition, the typical flapper was a young women who was often thought of as a little fast and maybe even a little brazen. Mostly, the flapper offended the older generation because she defied conventions of acceptable feminine behavior. The flapper was "modern." Traditionally, women's hair had always been worn long. The flapper wore it short, or bobbed. She used make-up (which she might well apply in public). And the flapper wore baggy dresses which often exposed her arms as well as her legs from the knees down. However, flappers did more than symbolize a revolution in fashion and mores - they embodied the modern spirit of the Jazz Age.

Along with popular and now mostly forgotten authors of the time - such as Elinor Glyn (author of It) and Percy Marks (author of The Plastic Age), the one writer most identified with the roaring 20's is F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896 - 1940). A handsome and gregarious man, Fitzgerald became famous with the publication of his first novel This Side of Paradise (1920). The author was among the first writers to draw attention to the new post-World War I sophistication, particularly such phenomena as petting parties and youthful love affairs. Fitzgerald's books were such a success that he became a kind of king to American youth; his queen was his beautiful, witty (and emotionally unstable) wife Zelda.

This royal celebrity couple became nearly as well known for their madcap antics as for his writing. One famous incident involved them splashing in a public fountain. They also rode on the hoods of taxis, disrupted plays by laughing at the sad parts and weeping over jokes, and entertained lavishly (during Prohibition) at drunken parties. To foot the bill for their extravagant lifestyle, Fitzgerald wrote dozens of short stories for the leading magazines of the day. Both his stories and his novels record - and partly served to create - the period.