New World Coming : The 1920s and the Making of Modern America

by Nathan Miller

Jazz, bootleggers, flappers, talkies, Model T Fords, Lindbergh's history-making flight over the Atlantic-the 1920s was also the decade of the hard-won vote for women, racial injustice, censorship, social conflict, and the birth of organized crime. With scandal and crime the lifeblood of the tabloids, it was the time when the culture of celebrity and sensationalism took root and journalism became popular entertainment. Nathan Miller has penned the ultimate introduction to the era.

Chronicling what he sees as the most significant decade of the past century, the author vividly portrays the 1920s, focusing on the men and women who shaped this extraordinary time, including three of America's most conservative presidents and H. L. Mencken. Written in extraordinarily accessible-and frequently witty-prose, New World Coming is destined to become the book we all turn to in order to recall one of the most beloved eras in American history.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History, School, American, Politics, Historical

433 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Nathan Miller received his bachelor's and master's degrees in history from the University of Maryland before becoming a reporter for the Baltimore Sun. He spent more than 15 years as a journalist, including a three-year tour as the paper's chief Latin American correspondent, based in Rio de Janeiro, before becoming an investigator and speechwriter for Sen. John L. McClellan on the permanent subcommittee on investigations and later the Senate Appropriations Committee. Miller left the congressional staff in 1977 to be a full-time freelance writer.

Reviews

[Jan C · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was pretty good. Better than I was expecting. I learned things.

My view of Herbert Hoover improved. He still screwed up when the crash came but it wasn't entirely his fault. Had no idea that Winston Churchill may have been one of the catalysts for the crash when, as chancellor of the exchequer, he obtained gold so that we no longer had the gold that our currency was relying upon. Hoover was trusting the markets to correct themselves but they were too panicked and looking out for themselves.

A lot of space devoted to Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, H.L. Mencken, etc. Flappers, literary world.

Well written, too. He had Notes but not actual footnotes which I would have preferred. Nice Bibliography, too.

[Dave Gaston · Rating 5 out of 5]

Taking me back to the 1920’s, land of “Only Yesterday” by Frederick Allen. In fact, Miller tips his hat at the 1930’s masterwork in an attempt to frame the era in a more modern perspective and fill in some of the more obvious prejudices and prat falls. Miller can write and his story telling is excellent. Within most chapters, he is concise with a flair for only the most sizzling of facts. In a few early chapters he succumbed to detail and resorted to name dropping in an headlong attempt to cram in a full era of trivia. I’m sure the impulse is hard to resist. That minor bitch aside, this is a grand effort and a great book. I should read it again with each new decade. it will always be relevant, even 100 years later in 2020.

Aug 9, 2008

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nathan Miller writes a lucid narrative of the 1920s, which by his estimation, lasted as a cultural epoch from about 1918 to 1933 (the end of World War I - the inauguration of Franklin Roosevelt). He draws the reader into small biographies of major figures during the decade, and traces the ebbs and flows of the 1920s through the like of F. Scott Fitzgerald whose fortunes waxed and waned along with the broader cultural, social, and economic forces at work in the nation.

[Nathan Kwandras · Rating 4 out of 5]

I do not profess to be an expert on the 1920’s. Just a history enthusiast. I will say that this is a pretty comprehensive book that covers the decade very well, from politics to culture to the significant events of the time. I’ve dabbled in 20’s history before and this covered everything I knew about the decade and more. It is easy to read, however some foundational knowledge on the era might be needed before reading. All in all, enjoyable read for any true history buff.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found New World Coming a better snapshot of the 1920's than Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920's, to which it will forever be compared. Given the benefit of a longer historical lens, NWC better explored the racial components of the time, as well as the artistic landscape. The author was also able to extrapolate cause & effect and draw parallels to modern events.

[Spencer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nathan Miller uses the life and writing of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald as the framework around which he builds the story of America in the 1920s. The Fitzgeralds were very public figures in New York and Paris and could be described as America's first celebrity couple. Their lives were touched as anyone's by the forces that shaped and molded America's most fascinating decade. It could be said that America came of age during the 3rd decade of the 20th century and had a coming out party that lasted 10 years. Miller makes the case that the Twenties were much like Sixties, but on steroids. America entered the twenties with a roar, and exited with a whimper, virtually exhausted.

The book opens with a three page introduction explaining the linkage of F. Scott Fitzgerald with the 20s. It also describes the US taking an increasingly important role on the world stage. The author makes it clear that this is going to be a very exciting decade. This is followed by an 8 page prologue outlining the life of F. Scott Fitzgerald from youth, years at Princeton, early writing success, marriage to Zelda, and their meteoric celebrity life through the decade.

Miller has organized the meat of the book into 17 chapters, each titled with a quote or phrase whose meaning is obscure until you have read the chapter. Only Chapter 10, "The Lost Generation", is immediately decipherable. Topically, the chapters could be labeled as follows: Chapter 1—Woodrow Wilson, Chapter 2—The Red Scare, Chapter 3—Warren Harding, Chapter 4—The Elites, Chapter 5—Corruption of the Harding Administration, Chapter 6—The Rise of Calvin Coolidge, Chapter 7—Ku Klux Klan, Chapter 8—Democrats in Chaos, Chapter 9—The Automobile, Chapter 10—The Lost Generation, Chapter 11—The Evangelical Movement, Chapter 12—Coming of Age in the 20s, Chapter 13—Swindles, Frauds and Real Estate Bubbles, Chapter 14—Prohibition, Chapter 15—The Talkies, Chapter 16—The Rise of Herbert Hoover, Chapter 17—Wall Street Crash.

Looking at the book topically it is fairly predictably about the movers and shakers. But Miller delves into the technology, sociology, economics and moral landscape that make the American experience truly unique. Broadly speaking the narrative moves in chronological order, though many of the key topics run full force through the entire decade, while others run in fits and starts. The author does a good job anchoring the reader in an approximate 2-3 year span, while allowing enough flexibility to bring in related events from a broader time span.

What sets Miller's interpretation of the decade apart from other histories of the era is his weaving into the narrative the literary, musical, theatrical cinematic and scientific events and people that were the focus of the public's conversation and attention at the time. Technological breakthroughs created mass markets for books, newspapers, magazines and entertainment. Not only were there fads such as marathon dancing and flagpole sitting, but there were waves of support for self-improvement gimmicks, get-rich-quick schemes, and new insights into sexuality, dream interpretation and do-it-yourself psychoanalysis. Freud was recognized as the "Darwin of the mind." Miller cites 8 Eugene O'Neill plays as having significant impact on American culture. He also describes the artistic life of 1920s Harlem, when it was clean vibrant and mostly law-abiding—before the devastation of the Great Depression. Miller depicts America of the 1920s as the epitome of renaissance artistic accomplishment. Whether it be literature, theater, or art he offers an abundance of artistic contributions that still resonate today. I was able to identify 37 unique references to pieces of literature, drama or authors that I am interested in pursuing as a result of reading this book.

I also enjoyed the author's revelations of the quirky side of many of the historical figures—their speech patterns, their often weird habits, unforgettable quotes, their weaknesses, their idiosyncrasies, and moral shortcomings. Though living more than 100 years ago, Miller makes them seem very much alive today.

[Scott Wood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely well written, about a fascinating time. Even though I'm giving it 5 stars for the writing style and apparant comprehensiveness, I do have a couple of concerns/dissappointments:

1. I am always wary of a work of history which is so elegantly written. I get the feeling that the author is distorting and skipping things for the benefit of the narrative. I am somewhat assuaged on that point by several observations of the sort "even though the common perception is X, Y is actually true," even when X would have better suited the somewhat left-wing narrative.

2. I bought the book a number of years ago expecting a development of science, business, and consumer product oriented focus. Instead most, but by no means all, of the narrative is devoted to presidential politics and policy.

[Jeremy Perron · Rating 5 out of 5]

As I continue to march through the ages, I now come across Nathan Miller's guide to America in the 1920s. It was a decade that saw an incredible transformation of a nation and a people. This was the era where the motorized car did away with the horse and buggy forever. Sandwiched in between two world wars, the 1920s buzzed with excitement and wonder about the new age. This was the first decade that American women were able to vote in Federal elections. In this era, flight would start to become a more mainstream way of traveling and the skies of the major cities would see the rise of the new incredible feet of engineering: the Skyscraper. With the new popular HBO series Boardwalk Empire now heading into its second season, I would recommend this book as a great introductory guide. It presents a world where alcohol was illegal yet almost everyone was still drinking.

Leadership in the Twenties was lacking in comparison to the nation's first two decades in the twentieth century. The first fifth of the century the nation was led by the inspirational leadership of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, and the president who was not as successful, William H. Taft--was a great man in his own right. The Twenties saw the leadership of the pathetic, to the boring, and ended with a disaster. Warren G. Harding started the decade off with his election which was the first time in American history in which women participated. It was unfortunate that such a sad president was the result of this historic occasion. Harding was not himself a bad man but he knew that he was not qualified for the job that the people had elected him to do.

"'John, I can't make a damn thing out of this tax problem. I listen to one side and they seem to be right and then--God!--I talk to the other side and they seem just as right, and here I am where I started. I know somewhere there is a book that will give me the truth, but hell, I couldn't read the book. I know somewhere there is an economist who knows the truth, and I don't know where to find him, and haven't the sense to know and trust him when I find him. God, what a job!'" (p.88)

Calvin Coolidge was smart but dull. He was known as the last nineteenth century president. It was under his leadership that the country went through great prosperity in the heart of the decade. Despite great economic success President Coolidge governed over a nation that had a growing cancer. This cancer, one of the nasty aspects of the 1920s, was raised to height of its power during the decade. The cancer was the hateful Ku Klux Klan. The Klan was more than just a terrorist organization. It was a hate group that extended its political power into the halls of Congress.

"Both Texas and Indiana were represented in the U.S. Senate by Klansmen, about seventy-five members of Congress owed their seats to the Klan, and the governors of Indiana, Georgia, Alabama, California, and Oregon had been elected with its support. In Oregon, where there were over 100,000 Klansmen in a population of 850,000, the Klan elected the mayor of Portland and would have succeeded in outlawing Catholic schools except for a ruling by the Supreme Court." (p.145)

Miller describes how the nation really changed in the Twenties was in the rise of the automobile. Although invented prior, the automobile really had its era begin in the Twenties. Miller compares the auto's impact to similar technological impacts such as television in the 1950s and the Internet in the 1990s. And the man who was at the front of the automobile's takeover of the American streets was Henry Ford with his Model T.

"The Model T offered a combination of innovation and reliability, ruggedness and power never before seen in a reasonably priced automobile. Although derided as the Tin Lizzie, the car was built strong, yet light-weight chrome-vanadium steel, which Ford experts perfected after their chief picked up a sample from a wrecked French racer. Because of its lightness the car got twenty-five miles on a gallon of gasoline compared to the engine, which gave it a top speed of forty miles per hour, semiautomatic planetary transmission, and magneto, which supplied power for the spark and lights while doing with heavy storage batteries, were all new designs." (p.180)

What Ford did was not only make great cars, but he made them affordable. Ford make them affordable by making them available. He made them available by creating the assembly line, in doing this he revolutionized the industry and made cars affordable to the common man and the common woman.

"'The man who places a part doesn't fasten it,' exulted Henry Ford. 'The man who puts in a bolt does not put on the nut; the man who puts on the nut does not tighten it.' He boasted that any job could now be learned in little time, with nearly half requiring only a single day. Labor costs were reduced because there was no need for skilled workers. Before the introduction of the assembly line, it took twelve hours to build a car; in 1914, the time dropped to ninety-three minutes." (p.181-2)

The African-American community, oppressed with discrimination and segregation legally with terrorism and lynching illegally, found a method of resistance and cultural empowerment in the Harlem Renaissance. The center of African-American culture, Harlem, would be the intellectual breeding ground for the Civil Rights Movement that would, on the other side of the century, change the world.

"'On a bright December morning in 1921,' recalled poet Langston Hughes, 'I came up out of the subway at the 135th and Lenox into the beginnings of the Negro Renaissance.' While young white writers found their Mecca in Paris, Harlem was the center of the cultural and intellectual life of black America during the Twenties. If you were black and you wanted to write, you came to Harlem; if you were black and wanted to dance or sing, you came to Harlem; if you were black and you wanted to effect social change, you came to Harlem. Harlem was more than a geographic location--it was the soul and heart of African-American culture." (p.220)

What most everyone remembers about the Twenties is the failed experiment of Prohibition. Not only did the government fail to stop people drinking, but by making drinking a crime they created a disrespect of the average person for law enforcement. It made heroes of bootleggers and other celebrity criminals. It helped create the rise of the mobster and the criminal rackets that would infiltrate local governments. Organized crime was already on the rise but the coming of Prohibition feed the beast and made it grow faster than it would have naturally.

"Some of those involved showed a genius for business organization and made fortunes. Every major American city had its own underworld gang that peddled beer and booze and carved out territories for its distribution. Big Bill Dwyer was a longshoreman on the Brooklyn docks in 1920 and, three years later, was the largest importer of whiskey in the nation. Waxey Gordon--ne Irving Wexler--began his career as a pickpocket on the Lower East Side but, by the mid-1920s, owned a pair of skyscraper hotels, a brewery in New Jersey, and had an interest in a large distillery in upstate New York. Dutch Schultz controlled the beer business in upper Manhattan and the Bronx. In Detroit, the Purple Gang, a loose coalition of Jewish groups, liquidated the competition. In Boston, Charles Soloman assumed the role of boss; in Philadelphia, there was Max 'Boo Boo' Hoff; in Denver, Joseph Roma; in Cleveland, the Mayfield Road Mob. None had the power and influence of Chicago's Al Capone." (p. 301)

Miller describes the rise of the modern celebrity obsessed culture that would get its first character with Charles Lindbergh. Lindbergh was made famous by the first solo flight across the Atlantic in which he made aviation history and became a national icon. The celebrity culture would also celebrate Babe Ruth the famous baseball slugger.

"Charles Lindbergh arrived on the scene as a culture of celebrity was taking root in America--a culture encouraged by the flashy new tabloid newspapers that were revolutionizing American journalism. Scandal, sex, and crime were the lifeblood of the tabloids--or half size--newspapers designed for subway straphangers. The New York Daily News was the first and most successful with a daily circulation of over a million copies. William Randolph Hearst's Daily Mirror and the Graphic--known as the Pornographic--imitated their rival with varying degrees of success. The taboos of genteel journalism had already been broken by the yellow journalism of Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer at the turn of the century, but the tabloids went even further with in presenting journalism as entertainment, gossip as news, the trivial and salacious as the drama of life--a trend that sent quality journalism into full retreat and has since taken over television." (p. 329)

Second to Prohibition, the one thing most people remember about the 1920s is the way in which it ended. Black Thursday October 29, 1929 the day the stocks started to drop fast. What I found most interesting was the way Miller reminds his readers how the Great Depression came in waves. At first, on October 30, it did not seem so bad. But as the stocks continued to fall, banks began to close and firms followed which led to mass unemployment without any protection to the unemployed from the waves of the market. President Hoover had no idea how to act.

"Americans were puzzled--and then deeply angered--that a president who handed out relief to corporations could ignore the misery of people grubbing in garbage cans for food. No leader who permitted such a policy could maintain the confidence of his people. The Democrats won great gains in the 1930 off-year elections, including control of both houses of Congress. Hoover saw his name transformed into a symbol of derision: encampments of shacks erected by the homeless on the edges of the great cities were 'Hoovervilles,' broken-down automobiles pulled by mules were 'Hoover wagons,' and empty pockets turned inside out were 'Hoover flags.' He was the butt of a hundred bitter jokes. When he dedicated a monument and a twenty-one-gun salute boomed out, an old man was supposed to have said: 'By gum, twenty-one chances and they missed him.'" (p.380)

Miller does a great job at bringing the 1920s and the America of that era to his readers. My only one complaint was like like the Restless Decade there are no visuals (photos, political cartoons, or election maps). Nevertheless this is a great book that I would recommend to anyone with an interest in this time period or just likes the show Boardwalk Empire.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

More like a 3.5/5.

I thought that the audiobook narrator did an excellent job - he brought life into every chapter, and did that thing people do when they're imitating "old timey accents," which was pretty entertaining. Good performance, and it definitely made the material more engaging that way.

Miller's work was a little bit less engrossing. For example, the parts where he was explaining exactly how much each plot of land in Florida cost during that whole scam was excruciatingly boring. Those kinds of details were definitely indicators that he'd done his research, but didn't really tell me much about the character or experience of the 1920s. That was just how much something cost back then, which is nearly meaningless now in comparison. Possibly those details would be interesting to another reader, to give that regimented full picture, but for me it dragged down the narrative in useless minutiae.

There was also a bigger focus on the presidency and political climate of the period than I was expecting. I guess this was neither good nor bad, just not what I expected, so if you're going to read this, you're going to hear a lot about Harding and primary elections and whatnot.

I suppose I was hoping this would be more of an exploration of the culture of the period, and that is certainly addressed in here. Lots of time devoted to the Fitzgeralds especially, along with Hemingway and other artists who moved to Paris. A bit of time for "the flapper." But I was definitely hoping for a focus on those topics, along with art and music and fashion, rather than small sections devoted to them throughout a political history of the era.

Shrug. I'm not mad I read this. I think it will definitely help clarify my understanding of the period in things I read in the future, but it wasn't really what I was hoping it would be. Oh well.

Also I thought the section on industrial progress & Henry Ford was particularly interesting! Lots of stuff I didn't know, and lots of interesting analysis on how it changed daily life for young people!

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating look at what I am coming to realize was a pivotal decade. Overall, Miller's narrative pace and historical treatment were balanced and interesting, though I detect a dismissive tone in his treatment of the modernist-fundamentalist controversy (e.g., the Scopes trial). He is also in places overly eager to make modern parallels (again, usually on current hot-button issues, e.g. abortion and the legacy of Margaret Sanger). But all told, I thoroughly enjoyed this.

[Sam Arendale · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really good depiction of the 1920s in totality — I really like the way Miller lets himself go down the rabbit holes.
I especially appreciated his characterization of the presidents from Wilson to Harding, Coolidge to Hoover, and beyond. He brings them to life off the page.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

While informative, this early 2000's look at the 1920s might have been the most racist historical book I've read in recent years. I was very surprised by the language used by the late author Nathan Miller.

[Ray Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good history of the 1920s. Felt a bit rushed toward the end.

[Maphead · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found this one on the shelf at my local public library. Thought it would be just so-so but I learned a lot about the 1920s. Not a bad book.

[Sebastian P · Rating 3 out of 5]

A montage of the 1920s. While not a waste of time, it felt surface level.

[Aloysius · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent examination of the decade in the US.

[Athena · Rating 3 out of 5]

it's a history book so it bored me to tears, but there was some good information in here that was presented in a way that wasn't completely mind numbing.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

A roaring good book.

[David Blake · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite book on the '20s, but still entertaining.

[Nolan I · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tons of information that’s super interesting, but somewhat hard to read through. Found the first 90 pages to be a struggle but found traction quickly after that.

[Tyler Davies · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very good oversight of a brilliant period. Touches on the majority of socio-political and socio-economical aspects of the era with conscise detail.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book about the ROARING 20s!

[David R. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Entirely unsatisfactory. Despite Miller's pronouncement, he did not improve on Frederick Lewis Allen's seminal "Only Yesterday" of 1931 and renders a deeply flawed portrait of the 1920s. His text is highly readable, but persistently takes a "black hat-white hat" form that renders character narratives impossible to accept. Miller digs relentlessly for any bad news he can find in a time which had more than its share of significant accomplishments, and dismisses those accomplishments. Strangest of all, he invites comparisons between the 1990s and 1920s and manages to get them almost entirely wrong. Not recommended.

[Lauren Mackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is engaging and interesting and easy to understand. Chapters aren't very long. I read this for class and some of my classmates thought that Miller jumped around topics too often and nonsensically. It didn't distract me and rather involved me as a reader more.

I like how the footnotes are on the bottom of the page. I appreciate that Miller adds the little-known and seemingly unimportant anecdotes about historical figures. He spends a significant time talking about the politics of the time period but also highlights the popular culture of the time period, devoting entire chapters to the subject at times.

I really enjoyed this book.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a treat. I'd call this a pop-culture history because it features all manner of Things That Were Going On with the people of the 20s-- food, dances, music, gossip-- along with the larger movements and figures. When it speaks of major figures ("Wurrn" Harding and F. Scott Fitzgerald in particular) it speaks of them with a uniquely personal level of detail.

This book is peppered throughout with a zillion interesting facts that will alternately amuse, amaze, and touch you. When you inevitably bring them up in conversation, you will look and feel terrifically intelligent and suave. (Way more intelligent than Harding, and at least as suave as Fitzgerald.)

[Matt Mishkoff · Rating 3 out of 5]

A highly readable, short history of the 1920s in America. This book is definitely intended as an introduction to the era, not an in depth accounting, but succeeds on those terms. The Republican administrations of the decade - Harding Coolidge, Hoover - are all covered, as is the outgoing Wilson administration that preceded them. Not just a political history, the book also covers the artistic (particularly through the framing device of the rise and fall of the Fitzgeralds), cultural, and technological changes of the period.

[John Stone · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting, detailed trip through the people and events of the 1920's. It's hard to concisely condense and entire decade and the main events that made it memorable. Wilson, World War I, literature (particularly Faulkner), prohibition, Coolidge, Hoover and the rise of Roosevelt are all mentioned. He says he based this book on a prior book with the addition of newer statistics. The writer does an competent job but doesn't really bring the events to life. It works as a compendium of people and events but fails to convey the sentiment or coherent picture of the time.

[DeNae · Rating 3 out of 5]

It has good research and excellent information. I'm not very fond of the structure of the book, which ties each thematic chapter to an episode or theme in the life of F. Scott Fitzgerald. The Fitzgerald pieces do not fit the rest of the book, and often the relationship to the chapter is very forced. It's an interesting over-arching structure, but it irritated me. I have the audio book version, which is very well done.

[Jessi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book up the second summer I worked in Yellowstone and carted it around for six years before finally finishing it. Totally worth it.
Some people might not like the book because it jumps around and only skims the surface of the 1920s and how they changed America, but that's exactly why I loved it. The author connected all of the major happenings of the time and really made the era pop.

[Tomi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Caveat - I taught history for many years...this was an interesting book but there was very little in it that I didn't already know. I enjoyed the anecdotes scattered through the book. The author's style of writing made it an easy, enjoyable read. If you don't know much about pre-World War I America, this would be a good place to start. It is amazing how similar things are today to the America of the 1920s...and pretty scary too!