Only Yesterday History Book Review and Critique Assignment

Name:
Instructor:
Course:
Date:
Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920's is a book describing America's history for a decade after World War I. The book was written by a former editor-in-chief of Harper's magazine, Frederick Lewis Allen. The book tells the history of America from the end of World War I to the crash of the stock market and the beginning of The Great Depression in October 1929. The book describes the political, social, economic and international issues of the decade. The decade became a time of economic prosperity for most American's, social perspectives changed, and America's international ties got stronger not leaving behind the political changes that took place. This paper is meant to discuss expected to discuss the political, economic, social and international issues in America during the 1920 decade.
Roger Butterfield introduces the book before the book begins. The introduction compares post-war decades of World War I and II that favors the post-war decade of World War I. In chapter one, Frederick introduces Mr and Mrs Smith a couple in the year 1919. Typical women during this era had long hair, wear long stockings and long dresses, and their duties were to take care of the homestead and do chores around the house. Men on the other side had the role of leadership in the homestead. The Chicago Tribune and the New York Tribune were the only common newspapers in the decade. Baseball and boxing were the only sports known with golf and tennis coming along. After the war period was faced with inflation that led to high costs of living.
The then president of America, Woodrow Wilson opens chapter two with sending a message to his fellow citizens that the war is over. This meant a new beginning to Americans whose lives will be still centered on the war. Masses and soldiers parade on the streets to celebrate the end of the war and soon after going to look for jobs. Henry Cabot Lodge, a Republican leader, opposes Wilson. Wilson, later on, is reelected as the president after vetoing the Senate. In 1921 Warren G. Harding took over the presidency. Within his administration, illegal looting of government money, profiting from the sales of illegal liquor and bribery was rampant, but nobody criticized his style of management because they all wanted "normalcy". He died two and a half years into his tenure as president.
With the introduction of the automobiles, the economy of America boomed. The automobile industry boosted the economy. Advertising turned into a profession, and salesmen had to sell while business made good profits. Prices were gaining values at a high rate that was dangerous, but the then-president Calvin Coolidge allowed the business to continue undisturbed. Prohibition ended around this period, and the production of liquor increased to a critical rate. This prompted gang violence and crimes.
In June and July 1929 the stock prices fell, but later on rebounded to even higher numbers. Unfortunately, in September 1929, the stock prices fell and did not rebound. On October 29 or what is commonly referred to as "Black Tuesday," a fall in the stock prices changed the mentality of all Americans. Americans were to find soon themselves living in a different atmosphere that needed new adjustments, n...