Reviews for 1920s (American Popular Culture Through History Series)

The average rating for 1920s (American Popular Culture Through History Series) based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2013-01-07 00:00:00 Bogdan Honciuc I continued my exploration of the fascinating Prohibition era with this book, but it didn't quite live up to my expectations for it. It's a perfectly competent history as presented, but I was expecting something a little more focused. I wanted to know how the denizens of New York City lived through and dealt with Prohibition. As it turns out, according to Lerner, the answer by and large is "they ignored it". But that would make for a pretty short book, so he pads it out with some historical context as far as how the 18th amendment was passed and what pre-Prohibition saloons in NYC were like, and then pads out the ending by examining the nomination and election of FDR and the ultimate repeal of Prohibition in the 21st amendment. I found the end-padding far more irksome than the beginning: any history book can justifying "backing up a bit" and providing context and frameworks. But if the premise is "life in NYC as affected by Prohibition", the connection to a presidential campaign seems tenuous at best. FDR was a New York governor, and Lerner argues that Manhattanites gradually became more politically involved in the Prohibition struggle in its last few years, continuing to resist in civilly disobedient ways but also "voting as they drank" but still ... national elections are not synonymous with NYC elections. I was hoping for more anecdotes about how speakeasies operated, how bootleg liquor ended up in the homes of New Yorkers, how organized crime grew in the city (esp. since Chicago usually gets all the attention in those chapters in broader Prohibition books) - I got some, but what can I say, I'm greedy and I wanted more.

Review # 2 was written on 2014-11-11 00:00:00 James Gregory This is a fairly readable and relatively fascinating introduction to Prohibition including the important aspects of politics, culture, gender, and race. It is, however, fundamentally flawed. On one hand, the size, racial/ethnic diversity, and cosmopolitan culture of New York City make it a perfect locale for a Prohibition study. On the other hand, I found myself continually asking: How representative of the larger American Prohibition experience is NYC? Lerner appears to argue for New York exceptionalism; he assumes a "trickle-down" effect where the anti-Prohibition attitude of New Yorkers makes its way to the rest of the nation. First, this is almost impossible to quantify. How do you prove that support for 18th Amendment repeal in, say, Indiana came from the efforts of wet New Yorkers? Second, I found a tone of "East coast bias" present throughout the book, the idea that unenlightened residents of "fly-over country" needed the example of New Yorkers to wake up to the dangers of the 18th Amendment. Maybe the other 47 states simply liked to drink as much as New York. A good study when sticking to New York City, but unconvincing when attempting to make larger claims about American society.