The+Roaring+Twenties

= **__ The Roaring Twenties __** = By Sarah Rowse-Borrelli

In my American Literature class, the units I teach are broken down by chronological order. My students favorite unit is the one that coincides with __The Great Gatsby__. I am using a collection of nonfiction books, websites and web quests, as a preliminary/unit long activity for students to explore the time period of the 1920s and 1930s.

This is a survey class for Eleventh Graders that have been exposed to this time frame in their American History class. The reading levels vary but since the topic is more advanced in theme and subject many of my findings did not have a clear lexile.

The culmination of this activity will be a brief presentation about a topic that connected to the novel __The Great Gatsby__. The students will start with learning about the time frame, followed by choosing a subject that connects to the novel. Since Fitzgerald’s work of fiction has some truth woven in, learning more about his significant time will provide a greater depth to their understanding.

This is a part book part biography of __The Great Gatsby__. It includes the second half of Fitzgerald’s life and includes links to a 1922 homicide case that is reflective in the novel.
 * __ BOOKS: __**
 * Careless People by Sarah Churchwell**

This book discusses the political, economic, and cultural life of the United States in the 1920s, including prohibition, the higher standard of living, the Teapot Dome scandal, barnstorming, and flappers. (1170L)
 * The 1920s by Erica Hanson**

This book is from National Geographic learning and it tells about the jazz age, flappers, prohibition and the Florida land boom. (480L)
 * The Roaring 20s by Gare Thompson**

In this book children can imagine being witnesses to history-in-the-making that explores important events in United States history. (NC1100L)
 * The Roaring Twenties by R. Conrad Stein**

This is a fast-paced and easy-to-read that includes dramatic and colorful graphics that provide rich historic details and information. (GN710L)
 * The Roaring Twenties & The Great Depression**

This collection of primary sources discuss the decade of the 1920s that began in turmoil and ended in turmoil. This includes a pictures and narrative that depict Prohibition, gangsters, political corruption, the rebirth of the KKK, new immigration policies, jazz, flappers, movies, sports stars, aviation heroes, easy money, and playing the stock market. (1140L)
 * The Roaring Twenties edited by David C King**

A brief collection of information about the Prohibition, this book gives a nice overview of the time. (1220L)
 * Prohibition by Stephen Currie**

The life of one of America's most infamous and powerful gangsters set in 1920s Chicago during the Prohibition. (1100 L)
 * Al Capone: And the Roaring Twenties by David C. King**

This shows the profound impact of the prohibition movement on political history before 1916 and analyzes its ambiguous triumph in the 1920s. In doing so, it reveals the relationship between liquor control and the unique moral history of the American family. Here is social history at its best, wiping away the myth and legends of the past. (1440L)
 * Deliver Us from Evil: An interpretation of American Prohibition, by Norman H. Clark**

This is the many different back- stories of some of the world’s most famous books.
 * Who the Hell is Pansy O’Hara by Bond, Jenny and Chris Sheedy.**

A collection of personal essays by F. Scott Fitzgerald that includes notes identifying peoples, places, books, historical events and other details, all based on what he left behind. (1130L estimate)
 * My Lost City: Personal Essays, 1920- 1940 by F. Scott Fitzgerald**

A surface covering book about this time frame that touches on all of the major players, like Capone, Hughes and the many Flappers.
 * Anything Goes: A Biography of The Roaring Twenties by Lucy Moore**

Another exploration of the tumultuous life if the Fitzgerald’s using their personal letters to tell their story, this book is the background and information into their twenty year marriage, alcoholism, and mental breakdowns.
 * Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda: The Love Letters of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald By F. Scott Fitzgerald, Cathy W. Barks, Zelda Fitzgerald, Jackson R. Bryer**

This is the story of the clash of two talented people, Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald and F. Scott Fitzgerald. The story and research is filled with real life accounts and turmoil that accompanied this life.
 * Zelda: A Biography by Nancy Milford, Zelda Fitzgerald**

Prohibition did not go into effect until 1920, but, with the early Americans notorious for heavy drinking, numerous groups had been trying to ban alcohol for decades. This is not a comprehensive examination of the Prohibition era, it is informative and entertaining from start to finish.
 * Prohibition: Thirteen Years That Changed America by Edward Behr**

This book features great writers on great topics, including F. Scott Fitzgerald on what a magazine should be, Clarence Darrow on equality, D. H. Lawrence on women, e.e. cummings on Calvin Coolidge, John Maynard Keynes on the collapse in money value, Thomas Mann on how films move the human heart, Alexander Woollcott on Harpo Marx, Carl Sandburg on Charlie Chaplin, Djuna Barnes on James Joyce, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., on Joan Crawford, and Dorothy Parker on a host of topics ranging from why she hates actresses to why she hasn’t married.
 * Bohemians, Bootleggers, Flappers, and Swells: The Best of Early Vanity Fair by Graydon Carter and David Friend**

This is the story of America’s first sexual revolution, its first merchants of cool, its first celebrities, and its most sparkling advertisement for the right to pursue happiness.
 * Flapper: A Madcap Story of Sex, Style, Celebrity, and the Women Who Made America Modern by Joshual Zeitz**

This book is an exploration of four female writers whose loves, lives, and literary endeavors embodied the spirit of the 1920s.
 * Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin: Writers Running Wild in the Twenties** **by** [|**Marion Meade**]

[|https://prohibition.osu.edu] This website provides little articles, cartoons and graphics to a significant moment in history.
 * WEBSITES: **

[|www.1920-30.com] This website is a historical snapshot of all things 1920s. It connects one to the art, architecture and travel of the time.

[] This is a connection to an Essay that discusses the excess of the roaring 20s, using Fitzgerald opinions and notions. It also connects to more information about the time.

[] This is a Webquest that includes of a collection of resources and hyperlinks to the Roaring Twenties. Here students explore beyond that flappers and into more Harlem Renaissance, Prohibition, and Economic struggles.

[] This is another Webquest that takes students through the dramatic and social political changes of the Roaring Twenties. Here students will be introduced to this historical time period.