The first connection this book brings to the Irish Civil War, or its whole independence attempt is corporate lobbying. In America, a lot of corporations had many politicians in their pockets by striking down certain legislation and rights that would harm or cost corporations money. So that meant for workers many of the rights that they needed or wanted were not being granted by the government because of corporations in politicians’ pockets. This situation could connect with the politicians in Ireland to the parliament in the United Kingdom. Before the Irish Civil War, the United Kingdom had major control of Ireland, and many of the decisions that were made for Ireland were made by the UK parliament. This meant the citizens of Ireland if they wanted rights or certain legislation to pass, would have to convince people that do not even live in their country to pass these rights or legislations. The author explains how corporations had control of the federal government in America and is the same as the UK’s parliament having complete control of Ireland’s government and the decisions they made.

The second connection the author brings up in the book that coincides with the Irish Civil War is the women’s rights movement. When comparing women’s rights in the Irish Civil War, countless things are different, but there are also major similarities. Like in America, women were fighting for the right to vote, and be represented in their government. However, in Ireland, they were fighting for the same rights but instead of just women, it’s all the citizens of Ireland. Ireland did get some representation in parliament, but not enough to make significant changes to its country. This involved a conflict in which Ireland wanted to be independent and not rely on Britain or the United Kingdom for self-governance. Women want their voices heard and participate in the act of voting and being able to represent. Ireland wanted the same thing of being represented equally under parliament and the British monarchy. Henceforth the reason the Anglo-Irish Treaty was developed. 

Overall when comparing America in Ireland’s problems these two events are pretty different in what they are fighting for. However, they are the same in the rights they are fighting for. One of them is the government which is supposed to represent them while not being controlled by someone else. (Corporations/UK’s government) As well as people fighting to have equal representation under their government in the voting process and self-representation. (women’s suffrage/Anglo-Irish Treaty) 

• Dumenil, Lynn. The Modern Temper: American Culture and Society in the 1920s. United States: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1995.

Overview 

Marie Coleman is a lecturer in history and a professor of twentieth century Irish history at Queen’s University Belfast. She has written multiple books and journal articles related to the Irish Revolution which is her research interest. Coleman splits County Longford and the Irish Revolution, 1910-1923 (2006) into two parts: politics and war. In addition to her examination of politics and war during the Irish Revolution, she includes related abbreviations, an introduction and primary sources. 

Summary 

Coleman’s monograph explores two ideas. The first thesis explains the significance of Irish Republican Army activity in Longford. The second contest she puts forth is an exploration of the actions of the Irish Republican Army by analyzing its members and the members of its women’s auxiliary. 

Coleman focuses on the Irish Revolution on a regional level during the period of 1910-1923. She focuses on County Longford, Ireland. During the early twenties until 1923, County Longford experienced heavy activity related to the revolution. Coleman recounts these events in a timeline. 

In part one, Coleman evaluates the political activities in County Longford. Her chapters cover: the decline of the home rule movement, the South Langford by-election of 1917, Sinn Féin and the Irish Volunteers, and the Republican administration. She asserts that County Longford is among the most important areas of the Irish Revolution. By 1920, Sinn Féinn, the republican and democratic socialist party, nullified British administration in Ireland by taking control of the local government and justice system. The Sinn Féinn overtaking had been made possible by the Irish Republican Army’s guerilla campaign in 1919-1921. 

In part two of her book, Coleman analyzes the violence in County Longford. She covers the War of Independence (1919-1921), the men who comprised the IRA, and the women and their role in the Cumann na mBan.

 This violence is associated with the IRA and its women’s auxiliary, Cumann na mBan. In the period of 1917-1923, County Longford consistently experienced the most violence in the Leinster province. In 1920-191, County Longford was second in violence level in Cork County. 

Coleman creates a timeline of crucial events in Longford, many of which occurred in the early years of the 1920s. These events include political and military (IRA and guerrilla) campaigns, the violence of Longford compared with other areas of Ireland

Historiography 

Coleman contests that Longford is an important theater of the revolution. Another regional analysis of an Irish county was published in David Fitzpatrick’s Politics and Irish Life (1977). Additionally, in other monographs, there was a focus other regions, such as the Munster region, and not a focus on County Longford. 

Coleman, similar to other contemporary authors, writes about women. Lynn Dumenil, author of “The New Woman and the Politics of the 1920s” ( 2007) and Kathleen Blee’s Women of the Klan: Racism and Gender in the 1920s (2008) both look at women in history. This shows an increase in the discussion related to women’s contributions in history.

Coleman offers a clear historical account of the Irish Revolution to readers who have little understanding of the war. Ireland was one of the many countries who experienced political and civil unrest after World War I. Coleman offers a look into the after effects of World War I and a specific case of political and civil unrest. 

Bibliography

Coleman, Marie. County Longford and the Irish Revolution, 1910-1923. Irish Academic Press, 2006.

Google Books. “County Longford and the Irish Revolution, 1910-1923.” Accessed March 14, 2023. https://books.google.com/books/about/County_Longford_and_the_Irish_Revolution.html?id=sYIiAQAAIAAJ.

Queen’s University Belfast. “Marie Coleman.” Queen’s University Belfast. Accessed March 14, 2023. https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/persons/marie-coleman.

mkukan

Michelle Kukan is a spring 2023 student of Discovering Digital History at Ramapo College. She is a sophomore studying history, American studies and museum & exhibition studies. She is a volunteer for Mahwah Museum’s Veterans Project and works on the Jane Addams Paper Project.

A professor of history at the Cleveland State University, David J. Goldberg has spent much of his career in the field of history publishing books on the decade of the 1920s. In addition to “Rethinking the 1920s: Historians and Changing Perspectives,” Goldberg published “Discontented America – The United States in the 1920s” through the Johns Hopkins University Press in 1999. The courses that he teaches at Cleveland State University reflect his deep interest in the 1920s as well as having a focus in the history of immigration, which played an essential role in forming America in the 1920s.

A Summary of “Rethinking the 1920s: Historians and Changing Perspectives”

Goldberg begins his piece by emphasizing the importance of the 1920s, especially to historians, and how the two presidencies throughout the decade had a significant role in shaping it to be what it was. Politics throughout the decade put stress on either party, specifically in regards to the outcome of the Treaty of Versailles that became effective in January of 1920. Goldberg also explains the controversy over prohibition and the temperance movement and lists several books with information on this subject. He also discusses other social and racial issues that occurred during this time, such as the controversy of the Scopes trial and discussing creationism in public schools as well as the rise of the Ku Klux Klan as a result of the shift in social norms. People were resistant to social change and threatened by its idea, which led to violent and hateful groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. Goldberg lists some sources that discuss the rise of the Klan as well as women’s role in it. Enforcement on immigration to the United States was very much persuaded by these racist ideals. Domestic migration, however, was also a considerable marking of the 1920s; many Black people were escaping the South and making their way into the North which led to revolutions revolving around Black culture. Goldberg writes about the importance of the Harlem Renaissance and gives an anthology of all the works published during this time. He also notes the racial disparity in the South as many Black people remained there instead of moving North.

Goldberg also mentions how the role and the expectations of women completely shifted during this time as there was a heavier emphasis on fashion and maintaining beauty standards. Aside from vanity, women also demanded more rights and thus began the birth control movement; subjects such as this no longer remained taboo. Women secured a place in Hollywood and many famous actresses became synonymous with glamor and wealth. Finally, Goldberg notes how American novels and books were key pieces in understanding the decade, specifically F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby. Goldberg’s monograph is an extensive source of readings and books that educate readers on the decade that was the 1920s.

Goldberg’s writing covers a large scope of the 1920s and uses multiple sources from different years to create a comprehensive historiography of the 1920s. He gathers information from several different historians and authors to create his writing and form his opinions on the events that emphasized the 1920s. He did not stick to one certain decade or style of writing, nor did he narrow his views down to one or two subjects. He covers many defining aspects of the 1920s and backs it up with other research and sources.

Sarah Grider

Sarah Grider is a student of the 2021 Spring Discovering Digital History class at the Ramapo College of New Jersey. She is currently studying History and Museum & Exhibition Studies. She is an editorial assistant for the Jane Addams Papers Project.

Born in the later half of the 1910s, Charles Wright Mills was an esteemed American sociologist who was heavily influenced by the theories and ideals of German sociologists.¹ In particular, the ideals and theories of Max Weber had the greatest impact on Mills.² Weber’s speculations on the distinctions of class, status, and power and their impact in social, political, and economic systems defined much of Mills’ work. Besides White Collar: the American Middle Class, Mills has written several other significant books including The New Men of Power: America’s Labor Leaders and The Power Elite.

An Overview of White Collar

Published in 1951, Mills’ White Collar, does not address the 1920s as its own decade disconnected from the rest of American history. Instead, Mills takes the reader through several decades by analyzing the effect of class and social status on one’s power in the social, political, and economic systems in America. Accordingly, Mills argues that because of their large presence in society, middle class white-collared workers have transformed the definition of what it means to be an American.³ As a result, Mills views this population as a wealth of social, political, and economic power with enough influence to drastically change the course of the country. However, White Collar also analyzes the struggle between big organizations and expressive, self-directed work.⁴ This highlights the struggle for power between the American middle class and large, powerful companies that dominated much of the 1920s, as well as the greater twentieth century.

How does White Collar fit into the larger historiography of the 1920s?

It is argued that Mills’ White Collar fits almost perfectly in the typical narrative of 1920s historiography given that it was published in the early 1950s. There are striking parallels between Mills’ work and best-selling fiction novels such as The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit by Sloan Wilson and Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger.⁵ Published in 1995 and 1951 respectively, these fictional novels demonstrate the psychological and sociological ideas that Mills has incorporated into White Collar. While White Collar is not a fictional novel and it can be directly connected to sociology, the parallels are not a coincidence. Instead, they prove that at the time when White Collar was written and published, many other historians, authors, and everyday people shared a similar perspective on the 1920s.

What does White Collar provide to a reader interested in the 1920s?

For a reader interested in learning about the 1920s, White Collar provides a more psychological and sociological perspective into the decade. Given that Mills was largely influenced by the work of Weber, it can be inferred that White Collar offers the reader insight into American classism, focusing mostly on the power and effect of the white-collared workers in the middle class. Although Mills’ White Collar does not concentrate solely on the 1920s, it establishes concepts and makes speculations that can be applied to both the larger narrative of the twentieth century and the specific decade of the “Roaring Twenties”.

Bibliography

• The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. “C. Wright Mills: American Sociologist.” Encyclopedia Britannica. Last modified March 16, 2021. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/biography/C-Wright-Mills.
• Mills, C. Wright. White Collar: The American Middle Class. New York: Oxford University Press, 1951.
• Rytina, Steven. “Youthful Vision, Youthful Promise, Through Midlife Bifocals: C. Wright Mills’ ‘White Collar’ Turns 50.” Sociological Forum 16, No. 3 (September, 2001): 563-574.

Rachel Olivo

Rachel is a junior at Ramapo College of New Jersey taking Discovering Digital History in the Spring of 2021. She is studying History and Education and is looking forward to becoming a teacher after graduating.

Daniel Gorman’s The Emergence of International Society in the 1920s tells the story of how World War I created an international community that connected the globe. In the aftermath of the Great War, the nations of the world were as disconnected as ever. Many had been ravished by the war, while those not directly involved were being abused by the powerful colonial superpowers. With the coming of the new decade, these superpowers would collide with each other to create an international society. As Gorman puts it himself, “the shock of the First World War gave rise to a broad array of overlapping initiatives in international cooperation.”

Summary

Gorman’s 1920s monograph takes a look at the decade from an Anglo-American point of view. His aim is to explore how and why World War I was able to rapidly create a large international society and how Britain and Anglo-Americans were able to influence it. The book is split into two sections. The first explores the internationalization of the British Empire. He uses interactions with the League of Nations as well as the calls for autonomy in Britains extended colonial empire. The second section focuses on trans-atlantic internationalism regarding the people and events that affected the 1920s landscape.

Historiographical Context

Even though The Emergence of International Society in the 1920s is a 1920s monograph, it is still very different from other works written about the decade such as John Deak’s “Austria in the 1920s” (2010) and Charles Maier’s Recasting Bourgeois Europe: Stabilization in France, Germany, and Italy in the Decade after World War I (1975). As the name suggests, John Daek’s article focuses on Austria, more specifically the interwar period of the First Republic of Austria. After World War I and the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Austria was forced to rebuild before being interrupted by Nazi Germany in 1934. Charles Maier’s monograph looks at the central European trio of France, Germany, and Italy. Similar to Austria, the three nations were forced to rebuild after the Great War. While France’s Third Republic was able to last through World War I into World War II, both Germany and Italy’s governments failed before the start of the second World War with the Weimar Republic and the Kingdom of Italy respectively.

All three pieces of literature take a look at the 1920s from different, but similar viewpoints. They all take a look at the decade from mainly a national level. They also all fall under the broad category of histories on the aftermath of World War I. Each piece takes a look at a different nation(s), but when put together, they create a story of how the world reacted to the end of World War I.

Historical Interest

What makes Daniel Gorman’s book so interesting is scale. He looks at the 1920s from at largest a global level, but at the smallest an individual level. In the beginning, he discusses the League of Nations and the Empire Games which both involve many countries, but in part two, he switched over to the importance of people like Winston Churchill. By changing scales, Gorman is able to leave readers in awe of the grandness of the decade following the Great War with both powerful nations and influential people shaping the world.

Citations

Footnotes

Daniel Gorman, The Emergence of International Society in the 1920s (Cambridge University Press, 2012).

Bibliography

Deak, John. “Austria in the 1920s.” In Austrian Studies Today, edited by Bischof Günter and Karlhofer Ferdinand, 205-15. New Orleans: University of New Orleans Press, 2016. Accessed March 17, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1n2txjc.19.

Gorman, Daniel. The Emergence of International Society in the 1920s. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.

Maier, Charles S. Recasting Bourgeois Europe: Stabilization in France, Germany and Italy in the Decade after World War I. Princeton (NJ): Princeton University Press, 1975.

Michael Kilduff

Michael Kilduff is a history major at Ramapo College of New Jersey. He is looking to become a high school history teacher after going to graduate school for history education.

The 1920s is a decade in which an enormous amount of historians have contributed to the ongoing discussions surrounding the time period. While some praise the decade as a time of great accomplishment, progress and prosperity following World War I, others view the 1920s with criticism. As a historian, the 1920s can be analyzed through a lens of social, political, cultural and even religious perspectives; all leading to a clearer picture of what the so-called “roaring twenties” was actually like for all kinds of people.

In 2012 American historian of ethnicity and immigration in the United States, Marni Davis, wrote the book Jews and Booze: Becoming American in the Age of Prohibition. In her book Davis looks at how Jewish Americans engaged with Prohibition in the 1920s. She breaks down how the Jewish religious exemption worked in favor of immigrants as they became sources of a newly formed underground economy. Despite mass immigration and the industrial revolution that brought different ethnicities into urban centers like New York City, ethnic and religious minorities continued to face discrimination and alienation from white Americans in the 1920s. Jews in particular faced hurdles due to their religion, making it increasingly more difficult to fully assimilate into American society. In her work, Davis is able to capture the Jewish-American experience during the 1920s and paint a picture of what it was like for a religious group to travel upwards in social rank due to a legal loophole provided by their religion. 

The idea of “becoming American” is not new in terms of the historiography of the 1920s, yet Davis is able to bring a novel perspective by connecting Jewish-Americans to prohibition and how the two actually worked together to provide a bath for assimilation. Although prohibition was not enforced specifically against Jews, Davis’s work showcases the ingenuity of Jewish immigrants during a dry period in American history. Davis pulls sources from historians of the 1920s, immigration and the anti-alcohol movement. In doing so, Jews and Booze offers a dynamic take on one of the paths taken by an immigrant group during this time to assimilate into the greater American society.

During the 21st century many historians began to analyze how immigration and women fit into the puzzle of the 1920s. Books such as At America’s Gates: Chinese Immigration During the Exclusion Era, 1882 – 1943 by Erika Lee and journal articles like “Nationalism, Immigration Control, and the Ethnoracial Remapping of America in the 1920s” written by Mae M. Ngai began to look at how different ethnic groups were experiencing American society during the decade. In doing so, historians and readers can better understand how Americanization occurred in the beginning of the 20th century, and what attributes or stereotypes associated with certain ethnicities stem from that group’s process of assimilation.

Jews and Booze: Becoming American in the Age of Prohibition provides readers with a comprehensive exploration of the prohibition era with an emphasis on how politics and practices impacted Jewish-Americans and the Jewish community. Historian Marni Davis is able to highlight how Jews during the 1920s utilized the anti-alcohol movement to their advantage, securing their ledge in the climb towards acceptance in American society. 

Lauren S

Senior History and American Studies student at Ramapo College of New Jersey enrolled in Discovering Digital History course taught by Dr. Hajo during Spring 2021.

Summary

The Modern Temper: American Culture and Society in the 1920s by Lynn Dumenil was written in 1995, and it is an interpretation of the dramatic, important, and misunderstood decade. Dumenil is a professor of American History at Occidental College. Dumenil is also the editor in chief of the forthcoming Oxford Encyclopedia of American Social History. Dumenil describes the misinterpretation of the decade that took place in America during that time. As she writes, she makes her work clear. She interprets what happened in the 1920s, the age of the end of the Victorian era, urban liberalism emerging, the federal bureaucracy expanding, pluralism becoming important to American society. The emergence of different religions, ethnic, cultural groupings. Dumenil starts the book discussing the two eras that are sandwiched into the 1920s the progressive period and the New Deal and the decade’s public and private power. This book brings the developments of these aspects into sharp focus. Dumenil expresses her concern on the viewing of the 1920s as being a “fascination for the decade’s drama. (Dumenil 1) Dumenil discusses the fascination of how students are so into the richness of the 1920s in which students believe that the 1920s were all about The Great Gatsby. Dumenil discusses a key image that was enduring as the image of “the roaring twenties.” She discusses how people understand the life period to be fast, propelled by riches and social values changing constantly. She also remarks on the 1920s being so irresistible because of the women, ethnicity, and leisure. Dumenil also discusses the characterization of the 1920s being modern. She explains this because of the rapid industrialization during the time. The development of industrialization changed work and daily life, creating an extensive network of corporations into a national economy.

How does it fit into the larger historiography of the 1920s?

Like other author’s reflecting on the 1920s Dumenil talks about how forthcoming and industrialized America was becoming. Concepts like immigration, women are displayed in Dumenil’s work. Dumenil also talks about the environment of what the 1920s’ was. She describes the comparison of the stereotypical image of the 1920s and the reality of the 1920s. Other historiographers have discussed this phenomenon of how people imagine the 1920s to be a “romantic time period” but as Jennifer Fronc writes, she discusses that it was” a struggle and challenge to American’s democratic institutions in the post-World War I period. (Fronc)” Like Dumenil, Fronc discusses women’s suffrage, prohibition and immigration.

What does it provide to a reader in the 1920s?

Modern Temper: American Culture and Society in the 1920s by Lynn Dumenil would create interest readers who want to know about the 1920s because it clarifies the effects before and after the 1920s. As Dumenil states, a lot of what the population thinks of what the 1920s is about are about the “great Gatsby ideals” that make up the 1920s. But in reality such an extensive list such as the creation of Micky Mouse , Albert Einstein making groundbreaking discoveries, and the Yankees winning the 1923 World Series. These are just a list of topics that happened during this time period other than big dramatic house parties.

Bibliography

Dumenil, Lynn. The Modern Temper: American Culture and Society in the 1920s. United States: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1995.

Podair, J. and Dochuk, D., n.d. The Routledge history of the twentieth-century United States., 2018

Roberta Carbah

I am a Ramapo senior who is majoring in Elementary Education. I am taking this course because I want to be certified in Social Studies at the middle school level. I graduated from Bergen Community College in the Spring of ’19 with an associate’s in Early Childhood Education. Currently, I am working  at Starbucks as a Shift Supervisor until I obtain my degree from Ramapo.

This book demonstrates a change in how historians were viewing post World War I Europe. Many historians had a view that at the end of World War I, a light switch was flicked and now all the countries were different due to the Treaty of Versailles and no real significant change occurred until Hitler took power. Maier challenges this view, arguing that not only was change in the 1920s more gradual, but it was a continuation of trends occurring before and during World War I. The impact that the 1920s had on the coming decades was not considered much by historians. Maier once again challenges this view, not only arguing for the impact the 1920s had on the build up to World War II, but also beyond, with his claims that corporatism was the foundation for modern capitalism. Over time, Maier’s view of the 1920s would become more accepted, with historians beginning to understand the true importance of the decade.

Recasting Bourgeois Europe provides to the reader the context of the post World War I era. While the subject matter Maier is discussing in this book is not as flashy as say the fascist takeover of Italy, it is nevertheless just as important. It is important because it is giving the context for that event. By understanding the changing economies and government policies of these nations during this time, it becomes easier to understand why right-wing radicals were dissatisfied with the current situation and felt the need to take action. Context is always important in history. There’s no point in memorizing names and dates if one does not understand the greater context of those names and dates, why they are significant, and how they became significant. That is what Maier achieved with this book.

Bibliography

Jacobson, Jon. “Is There a New International History of the 1920s?” The American Historical Review 88, no. 3 (June 1983): 617-645.

Maier, Charles S.. Recasting Bourgeois Europe: Stabilization in France, Germany, and Italy in the Decade After World War I. Germany: Princeton University Press, 1975.

Nicholas Buonocore

Nicholas Buonocore is a student at Ramapo College who toke the Discovering Digital History course in the Spring 2021 semester. He was a junior at Ramapo studying history while taking this course.