| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Great War |
|
|
In the Trenches
To understand how World War I contributed to a loss of innocence and a deepening cynicism in the United States, you have to understand the horror of a war that began as an idealistic enterprise and ended as a bloodbath. Take a trip back in time and step into the trenches of World War I for a closer look at a war that changed the voice of American fiction.
|
|
|
At Home and Abroad: The Jazz Age |
|
|
Beauty and the Beat
There was more to the Jazz Age than jazz. America’s young folks spent most of the decade turning their elders’ notions of decency—and just about everything else—upside down. Meet some of the movers and shakers of the time at the Louise Brooks Society.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Singin’ the Blues
Jazz may have lent its name to the Jazz Age, but it wasn’t the only popular music. The blues, with its leisurely tempo and melancholy lyrics, emerged from the Mississippi Delta to become a national craze. Travel down The Blue Highway and sway to the sounds of blues legends Bessie Smith, T-Bone Walker, and Willie Dixon. Then, catch up with a new generation of blues players.
|
|
|
Modernist Voices in Poetry: A Dazzling Period |
|
|
Make It New!
In the aftermath of a bloody war, a handful of American poets rose above the disillusionment and founded a new literary movement. Find out how modernist poets sought to separate themselves from the traditions of the past at The Academy of American Poets.
|
|
|
The Harlem Renaissance: Voices of the African American Experience |
|
|
Harlem: An Outburst of Culture
Got the blues? Hit the streets of Harlem for a heavy dose of music, dance, poetry, and some deep literary discussions. Swing by the Schomburg Center’s Harlem 1900–1940 exhibit for a trip back to the Harlem Renaissance. You’ll meet the artists, the activists, the sports heroes, and the entrepreneurs who breathed life into Harlem and stirred the winds that would become African American culture today.
|
|
|
Against the Grain: Poetic Voices of the West and South |
|
|
Close Reading
The South found a poetic voice in John Crowe Ransom, but Ransom’s enduring literary legacy came in the form of criticism rather than poetry. The doctrines of New Criticism as laid out by Ransom had an enormous influence on a generation of poets and academics. Drop by Lawrence University and find out what was so new about New Criticism.
|
|
|
A Closer Look: The Best of Times, The Worst of Times |
|
|
Making Time Stand Still
Charged with chronicling the suffering of people during the Great Depression, photographers working for the United States government captured history in the form of photos. Visit the Library of Congress, and see whether you think these images of poverty and racial discrimination record the best of times or the worst of times.
|
|
|
|
|
|
“I Love a Good Fight”
Franklin Delano Roosevelt caused quite a sensation with some of his Depression-era policies. Find out what all the fuss was about—and why Roosevelt was both the most loved and most hated American President of the twentieth century—when you flip through the pages of Time 100.
|
|