In Europe the decade is sometimes referred to as the "Golden Twenties" because of the economic boom following World War I. There was an enormous boost in culture - music and art became far more prominent.
Due to prohibtion (illegal production of alcohol) the 1920's saw a huge rise in organised crime in America - the Mafia. It also saw the introduction of the Nazi party. The 1920s also experienced the rise of facism in Europe and elsewhere, being perceived as a solution to prevent the spread of communism.
The timing of The Great Gatsby is significant. The chaos and destruction of the First World War had just ended, and the Great Depression had yet to hit America. America was enjoying a period of increased prosperity in the 1920s. American industry had expanded during the Great War, making weapons, uniforms, equipment to provide what the decimated European economies no longer could. This expansion continued after the war, helped by America's massive reserves of raw materials and by high tariffs (import duties on foreign goods). Tariffs made foreign goods dearer, so American goods were bought. Some industries were also given subsidies (cash support), which increased their profits. So there was a boom (economic expansion).
The greatest boom was in consumer goods; cars, refrigerators, radios, cookers, telephones etc. Ordinary people were encouraged through advertising to buy these goods and many could now afford what had been luxuries before the war. One reason was that they earned slightly higher wages because of the boom. Another reason was that the growth of hire purchase meant that people could spread the cost over months and even years. But the main reason was that goods had become cheaper; in 1908 the average cost of a car was $850 whereas in 1925 the average cost of a car was $290. This was because of mass production methods used to produce many consumer goods. Assembly lines were built in factories and each worker concentrated on one small job only. The most famous example of this method was Henry Ford's factory which was fully automated. Because of mass production and automation one Model T car was produced every ten seconds.
Most Americans therefore enjoyed a high standard of living. Food was plentiful and cheap thanks to the vast quantity produced on American farms.
Many people had enough spare cash to invest in stocks and shares. They often made a lot more money, because as industry's profits went up, so did the price of shares. An increasing number of people tried speculating in this way, often using borrowed money. The price of shares eventually began to fall and then collapsed, leaving many bankrupt.
The "Roaring Twenties" was also the great age of popular entertainment. In the theatres and speakeasies, people were entertained by "vaudeville" acts, singers and jazz and dance bands. Fitzgerald himself coined the term the "Jazz Age" to describe the period. It was also the age of the cinema (by the end of the 1920s 100 million cinema tickets were sold each week). Thousands of black and white silent films were made in America in the 1920s. Actors and actresses like Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Rudolf Valentino became "stars" (or celebrities) and were known all over the world.
The 1920s in America was also a time of prohibition. This refers to the period from 1920 to 1933, during which the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol for consumption were banned nationally. Chicago in particular became notorious as a haven for Prohibition dodgers during the Roaring Twenties. Many of Chicago's most notorious gangsters, including Al Capone and his enemy Bugs Moran, made millions of dollars through illegal alcohol sales. By the end of the decade Capone controlled all 10,000 speakeasies in Chicago and ruled the bootlegging business from Canada to Florida. Numerous other crimes, including theft and murder, were directly linked to criminal activities in Chicago and elsewhere in violation of prohibition.
There was a social as well as an economic impact from the end of the First World War. Class, political and gender boundaries became more flexible, and there was increased freedom of choice for most. This was exemplified by a certain type of young woman in the 1920s, named ‘flappers’. This term referred to a "new breed" of young women who wore short skirts, bobbed their hair, listened to the new Jazz music, and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered acceptable behavior. The flappers were seen as brash for wearing excessive makeup, drinking, treating sex in a casual manner, smoking, driving automobiles, and otherwise flouting conventional social and sexual norms. Flappers had their origins in the period of liberalism, social and political turbulence, and increased transatlantic cultural exchange that followed the end of the First World War, as well as the export of American jazz culture to Europe.
Due to prohibtion (illegal production of alcohol) the 1920's saw a huge rise in organised crime in America - the Mafia. It also saw the introduction of the Nazi party. The 1920s also experienced the rise of facism in Europe and elsewhere, being perceived as a solution to prevent the spread of communism.
The timing of The Great Gatsby is significant. The chaos and destruction of the First World War had just ended, and the Great Depression had yet to hit America. America was enjoying a period of increased prosperity in the 1920s. American industry had expanded during the Great War, making weapons, uniforms, equipment to provide what the decimated European economies no longer could. This expansion continued after the war, helped by America's massive reserves of raw materials and by high tariffs (import duties on foreign goods). Tariffs made foreign goods dearer, so American goods were bought. Some industries were also given subsidies (cash support), which increased their profits. So there was a boom (economic expansion).
The greatest boom was in consumer goods; cars, refrigerators, radios, cookers, telephones etc. Ordinary people were encouraged through advertising to buy these goods and many could now afford what had been luxuries before the war. One reason was that they earned slightly higher wages because of the boom. Another reason was that the growth of hire purchase meant that people could spread the cost over months and even years. But the main reason was that goods had become cheaper; in 1908 the average cost of a car was $850 whereas in 1925 the average cost of a car was $290. This was because of mass production methods used to produce many consumer goods. Assembly lines were built in factories and each worker concentrated on one small job only. The most famous example of this method was Henry Ford's factory which was fully automated. Because of mass production and automation one Model T car was produced every ten seconds.
Most Americans therefore enjoyed a high standard of living. Food was plentiful and cheap thanks to the vast quantity produced on American farms.
Many people had enough spare cash to invest in stocks and shares. They often made a lot more money, because as industry's profits went up, so did the price of shares. An increasing number of people tried speculating in this way, often using borrowed money. The price of shares eventually began to fall and then collapsed, leaving many bankrupt.
The "Roaring Twenties" was also the great age of popular entertainment. In the theatres and speakeasies, people were entertained by "vaudeville" acts, singers and jazz and dance bands. Fitzgerald himself coined the term the "Jazz Age" to describe the period. It was also the age of the cinema (by the end of the 1920s 100 million cinema tickets were sold each week). Thousands of black and white silent films were made in America in the 1920s. Actors and actresses like Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Rudolf Valentino became "stars" (or celebrities) and were known all over the world.
The 1920s in America was also a time of prohibition. This refers to the period from 1920 to 1933, during which the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol for consumption were banned nationally. Chicago in particular became notorious as a haven for Prohibition dodgers during the Roaring Twenties. Many of Chicago's most notorious gangsters, including Al Capone and his enemy Bugs Moran, made millions of dollars through illegal alcohol sales. By the end of the decade Capone controlled all 10,000 speakeasies in Chicago and ruled the bootlegging business from Canada to Florida. Numerous other crimes, including theft and murder, were directly linked to criminal activities in Chicago and elsewhere in violation of prohibition.
There was a social as well as an economic impact from the end of the First World War. Class, political and gender boundaries became more flexible, and there was increased freedom of choice for most. This was exemplified by a certain type of young woman in the 1920s, named ‘flappers’. This term referred to a "new breed" of young women who wore short skirts, bobbed their hair, listened to the new Jazz music, and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered acceptable behavior. The flappers were seen as brash for wearing excessive makeup, drinking, treating sex in a casual manner, smoking, driving automobiles, and otherwise flouting conventional social and sexual norms. Flappers had their origins in the period of liberalism, social and political turbulence, and increased transatlantic cultural exchange that followed the end of the First World War, as well as the export of American jazz culture to Europe.