Gatsby: Cultural Background

For many Americans, the 1920s was a decade of poverty. More than 60 per cent of Americans lived just below the poverty line. Generally, groups such as farmers, black Americans, immigrants and the older industries did not enjoy the prosperity of the “Roaring Twenties”.

Economist Valerie Ramey of UC San Diego gives an insightful talk charting the rise, fall and rise again of income inequality in America over the last century. She highlights the special circumstances that created a "Golden Age" for the average worker in the 1950s and 1960s and then follows with the economic changes that led to today’s extreme disparity where the top 1 percent of US households earn nearly 20 percent of the nation’s income.

This video covers the politics and economy of the 1920s.

Southern Methodist University Professor Alexis McCrossen describes the wealth in the U.S. at the beginning of the 1920s.