The History of the Twentieth Century

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249: Coming of Age in Samoa Aug 15, 2021

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In the 1920s, most took it for granted that Western civilization and culture was the pinnacle of human accomplishment. A 23-year-old graduate student set out to prove that this was not the case, and that even the West had something to learn from other cultures.

248 Darwin's Dilemma Aug 08, 2021

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Charles Darwin himself noted that the development of civilization had "stopped" evolution by natural selection within our own human species. This led others to speculate on whether society could purposefully direct human evolution.

247 Inherit the Wind Aug 01, 2021

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The state of Tennessee had made it a criminal offense to teach evolution in the public schools. The trial of John Scopes became the most famous court case in America of the period.

246 The Great Debate II Jul 25, 2021

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If the first great scientific debate of the 1920s was over the size and composition of the Universe, the second was over the structure and nature of the atom. It turned out that the common-sense rules of our everyday world don't apply at the atomic level.

245 Les années folles Jul 11, 2021

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The French know the Roaring Twenties as the "crazy years," when Coco Chanel was the queen of fashion and Dada art was making everyone scratch their heads.

244 Anything Goes Jul 04, 2021

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Music has always been a part of theatre, from opera to vaudeville. But in the 1920s, the first true stage musicals appeared.

243 The Algonquin Roundtable Jun 27, 2021

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New York City grew to be the most populous city in the world in the 1920s, as well as home to the world's tallest buildings and the world's champion smart alecks.

242 Dos, Don'ts, and Be Carefuls Jun 20, 2021

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In the early twentieth century, France had the world's largest motion picture industry, but it was soon eclipsed by that of the USA, a larger nation where movies were extremely popular. By 1920, 8 out of 10 motion pictures made in the world came from the United States.

241 I Am a Camera Jun 06, 2021

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The period from roughly 1924-1933 was a time when Germany threw off the shackles of Imperial authoritarianism and embraced the new and modern in art and culture.

240 The Golden Chancellor May 30, 2021

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Churchill was out of Parliament for a couple of years following the 1922 general election. When he returned, it was as a Conservative and as chancellor of the exchequer in the new Tory government of Stanley Baldwin.

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