The Great Depression - Trying Times

New from NewWayToRead.com comes "The Great Depression." There had been signs but nobody noticed. The country was on a roll. It had been nearly ten years since the war that was to end all wars had ended. People clipped coupons from stocks and bonds and sailed off to Paris to sip champagne. Those who didn't own stocks mortgaged their homes and borrowed money to buy shares so they, too, could clip coupons and live the good life. The more prudent waited for a while, but when they thought they were going to miss their chance to get aboard the Wall Street money machine, they signed on. And if they didn't want to sail off to Paris, then they could go to New York and take in a Broadway show. Lucky Lindy had flown across the Atlantic from New York to Paris in less than thirty-four hours and suddenly the world seemed smaller. Al Jolson appeared in "The Jazz Singer" and now the movies had sound. Jazz music swept the country. Girls were called 'flappers" and their dresses were short they bobbed their hair and wore lipstick. Their boyfriends were called "sheiks', they wore raccoon coats and dreamed of driving a Stutz Bearcat. Prohibition, the great experiment with liquor, was loosing its luster. Bathtub gin could be found on every street. People knew how to make dandelion wine. For the working man, wages were pretty good and there was time and money for extra things: for picnics in the country or drives to the next town to visit Grandma and Grandpa. It was a time of marathon dances and exuberant joy. But there was a day of reckoning just around the corner... Listen to our sound bit at http://newwaytoread.com - "Trying Times - The Great Depression" (Click on 'PODCAST')