Mass Production: the result was the creation of a New America, on e in which individualism was sacrificed to conformity as a part of the price to be paid for a new era of abundance.

The 1920s, often seen as a time of escape and frivolity before the onset of the Depression, actually marked a beginning , a time when the American people learned to adapt to life in the city, when they decided (wisely or not) to center their existence on the automobile, and when they rejected their rural past while still longing for the old values it had created. It is in the 1920s that we can find the roots of modern America as we know today.

With the advent of the new consumer goods industries, the American people by the 1920s enjoyed the highest standard of living of any nation on earth.

After a brief post-war depression, in 1922 saw the beginning of a great boom that peaked in 1927 and lasted until 1929.

In this brief period, American industrial output nearly doubled , and the gross national product rose by 40%

Most of this explosive growth took place in industries producing consumer goods-automobiles, appliances, furniture, and clo

***The economic trends of the decade had both positive and negative implications for the future. One one hand, there was the solid growth of new consumer-based industries. Automobiles and appliances were not passing fancies; their production and use became a part of the modern American way of life, creating a high standard of living that roused the envy of the rest of the world. The future pattern of American culture -cars and suburbs, shopping centers, and skyscrapers-was determined by the end of the 1920s. But at the same time, there were ominous signs of danger. The unequal distribution of wealth, the saturation of the market for consumer goods, and the growing speculation all created economic instability. The boom of the 1920s would end in a great crash; yet the achievements of the decade would survive even that dire experience to shape the future of American life.***

All shared a sense of disillusionment and wrote pessimistically of the flawed promise of American life. Yet, ironically, their body of writing revealed a profound creativity that suggested America was coming of age intellectually.

Some topics in this essay:
Industrial Revolution, African Americans, Weakness Railroads, Rural Counterattack, Growth Automobiles, Twenties Crime, Prohibition Prohibition, Women Family, Gertrude Ederle's, American Legion, african americans, consumer revolution, american people, foreign born, american society, standard living, red scare, middle- upper-class, industrial revolution, urban culture,