1920

Starred review from March 2, 2015
Burns (Invasion of the Mind Snatchers) takes readers on a thorough tour of the upheavals and events of the year when “the Roaring Twenties first began to roar.” More than a “preview of a decade,” 1920 was “a preview of the entire century and even the century to follow.” In particular, Burns focuses on the beginning of Prohibition, the passing of the 19th Amendment, the popular explosion of jazz, and the rise and fall of Charles Ponzi. He also touches upon corruption in the White House, the Teapot Dome Scandal, and the radical inequality of wealth distribution. The railroads, radio, and Planned Parenthood all saw development in 1920; the urban population overtook the rural for the first time. Burns leaps from one captivating topic to the next, displaying his expertise and sometimes drawing from his previous books to bring these trends and events to life. It’s an entertaining and informative look at a pivotal period, kicking off “a time of excitement, excess and enthusiasm” and “a century’s worth of turmoil and jubilation, irrationality and intrigue, optimism and injustice.” Burns makes it possible to recognize the century to come in this intimate study of a single year, and the result is downright fascinating. Agent: Linda Kenner, Linda Kenner Literary Agency.

March 15, 2015

Burns's (Infamous Scribblers; The Spirits of America) slim volume strikes the reader with a wealth of information on the events that made 1920 such a significant year in the history of modern America. Each chapter highlights a notable event during that year, reviewing the moments leading up to the cultural and political changes that rocked the country and laid the foundation for years to come. From the Wall Street bombing to Prohibition, the birth of Jazz to the availability of birth control, Burns shifts from one moment to another without pause. At times the narrative feels rushed, as though there is too much information to be entirely satisfying, but the impending sense of change may very well be the author's intent in leading the reader from one event to the next. This well-researched work reveals an oft-forgotten past and sheds light on the misconceptions that mar modern perceptions of 1920. VERDICT Casual readers and beginning researchers interested in early 20th-century American history and culture will find this title worthwhile. Those interested in the 1920s might also want to consider Bill Bryson's One Summer: America, 1927.--Gricel Dominguez, Florida International Univ. Lib.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from February 1, 2015
In a fascinating work about a remarkable year, former NBC News correspondent Burns (Invasion of the Mind Snatchers: Television's Conquest of America in the Fifties, 2010, etc.) shows us what put the roar in the Roaring '20s.The end of World War I brought reactions in the form of anarchy, the birth of jazz, the first Ponzi scheme, Prohibition, women's suffrage and the birth of "mass media." Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer and his assistant, J. Edgar Hoover, fought the Red Scare against the likes of Sacco and Vanzetti and the most notorious anarchist, Luigi Galleani, who swore by the "propaganda of the deed." Their work would lose effectiveness as their agents were diverted to enforce Prohibition, which caused its own problems. The Anti-Saloon League was the first of the special interest groups, and Prohibition cost organized crime its organization, as it became a growth industry to provide unregulated, and often lethal, liquor to the masses. The election of Warren Harding in 1920 was the first in which women voted and the first time returns were broadcast on radio. It also brought the "Ohio Gang" into Washington, a group who imported Canadian liquor by the trainload, sold Teapot Dome and ran cons that Ponzi, who made millions in a few short months, would have loved. There was also extensive birth and growth. The migration of blacks to the North looking for work brought the Ku Klux Klan in their wake, but they also brought jazz and other cultural elements. Jazz brought men like Louis Armstrong to Chicago and then New York and Harlem. The Harlem Renaissance was spurred not only by jazz, but also by literature-by Paul Robeson, W.E.B. Du Bois, Langston Hughes and countless others. Burns follows it all with verve. In this delightfully readable book, the author expertly shows how those affected by the Great War linked together, nourished each other and really did change the world.

COPYRIGHT(2015) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

May 15, 2015
Burns (Infamous Scribblers, 2006) proves that a year can hold a reader's attention and then some in his anno-biography of 1920 and all it brought to bear on the U.S. and the world. He has to slip to either side every so often to foreshadow or show outcomes, but he holds well to the task here, with the year bringing on the fiasco that was Prohibition (wreaking havoc on health and wealth), jazz, the beginning and end of Ponzi's great scheme, the flapper, and so much more. Peopled with such characters as Marcus Garvey, William James, Dorothy Parker, Louis Armstrong, and Warren G. Harding and with such events as the first-ever broadcast of presidential elections (signaling the birth of radio ), Agatha Christie publishing (under a pseudonym) her first book, and the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution (allowing women the vote) being passed, 1920 makes history vibrant, exciting, and palpably important. Entertaining and highly readable.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)