January/February 2008
Professional Pages Book Review
The Roaring Twenties Reference Library:
A Guide to the Twenties for People Under Twenty
Howes, Kelly King and Julie L. Carnagie. (2006). Roaring Twenties Reference Library. Includes Roaring Twenties: Biographies (249 pages) and Roaring Twenties: Almanac and Primary Sources. (286 pages). Detroit: Thomson Gale. ISBN-10 1-414-40210-4 (2 volume set); ISBN 13: 978-1414402109. $126. [This a U.X.L. publication of Gale.] (eBook version available).
The Roaring Twenties. Both the title and the cover of this two volume set bring to mind the decadence and mystique of America in the 1920s. The cover background on both volumes features an angular city skyline at night cut through with thick beams from searchlights. The cover of the Biographies volume overlays this background with pictures of notable characters such as Louis Armstrong, Al Capone, and Babe Ruth. The cover of Almanac and Primary Sources volume highlights a flapper, a Model T Ford, and the front page of Variety magazine from the day after the Stock Market crash. Teenagers and pre-teens attracted by the prospect of wild, speakeasy jazz party tales will discover the social, political and cultural context of people and events of the 1920s.
The Almanac and Primary Sources volume begins with a timeline covering events from the mid 1800s through the mid 1900s that helped shape the decade; a glossary of terms, such as "bootlegging," and recommendations for research and activities that will bring life to a study of the Twenties. These resources offer the reader a preview of the Harlem Renaissance, the growth of industry, and prohibition. Each of the nine sections of the Almanac draws the reader deeper into the history, impact, politics, religion, economy, industry, and culture of the 1920s.
The twenties was a period of contrasts – the flowering of jazz, movies and the arts alongside efforts to suppress scientific knowledge as exemplified by the Scopes Monkey Trial; a temperance movement and legislation banning alcohol consumption resulting in flagrant disregard of the law and rise of organized crime. A curious teenager browsing these easy-to-read sections might flip to "Ain’t we got fun?!" and learn how radio and "talkies" changed popular entertainment and how the segregation of major league sports led to the creation of the National Negro Baseball League.
To enable teachers and librarians to teach primary sources of the period, eleven selections are included, representing the variety that characterizes the Almanac itself. The document excerpts include not just popular literature of the time, but also a Presidential speech, a sociological study, closing arguments from popular trials, and the Kellogg-Briand Pact, a treaty to keep nations from resorting to war. Along with an explanation of the source’s history and context, the authors have provided a listing of "things to remember," a brief explanation of what happened next, some trivia about the author or event, and suggestions for further research on the subject. Explanations of slang and unusual vocabulary help ensure that today’s young readers will be able to understand sources. These primary source "packages" enable readers to experience the emotional context of the issues as well as their intellectual importance, so that teenagers working, for example, on 20’s book reports could approach fiction of the period, such as The Great Gatsby or The Sun Also Rises, with greater understanding.
The Biographies volume opens with a shorter timeline. Beginning decades before the 1920s, it outlines many of the important events that helped shape the decade, and ends just after 1933 and the end of Prohibition. Names are bolded where an event from the timeline stars one of the twenty-five figures in the volume. The biographies are in alphabetical order, so interest in a particular event can lead straight to a biography of a star of the event.
The biographies themselves cover a very eclectic set of personalities from the Twenties, most of whom had starring roles in the Almanac. The personalities include musicians, athletes, presidents, lawyers, gangsters, writers, artists, civil rights leaders, and businessmen. I imagine it must have been difficult to pick just twenty-five people to represent an entire decade, but there was enough success here to give someone reading straight through a solid grasp of the history of the decade, not just its key players. Each biography gives a history of the personality and role in shaping the events of the Twenties. If assigned a report on "Babe" Ruth, for example, a teen will find not merely a list of statistics about Ruth’s home-runs, but also why his athleticism was so important during the time as to make him a national hero.
The two volumes of The Roaring Twenties set compliment each other to provide a rich history and taste of life in the 1920s. The information, presented in an interesting and exciting way, is sure to engage teenagers and pre-teens, as well as provide a useful resource for school work. The set remains objective while covering the history of controversial subjects, such as evolution and civil rights, issues that remain politically charged today. This set would be a good addition to any junior high or high school library media center.
Willow Dressel is an MLIS student at the University of Washington. She spent the summer reading many of the classics she somehow missed reading in high school, including To Kill a Mocking Bird and A Tale of Two Cities.
Professional Pages Book Reviews are a KQWeb feature edited by Carolyn Karis.
