The Politics of Prosperity

Embracing an argument-based model for teaching history, the Debating American History series encourages students to participate in a contested, evidence-based discourse about the human past. Each book poses a question that historians debate--How democratic is the U.S. Constitution? or Why did
civil war erupt in the United States in 1861?-- and provides abundant primary sources so that students can make their own efforts at interpreting the evidence. They can then use that analysis to construct answers to the big question that frames the debate and argue in support of their position.

Politics of Prosperity poses this big question: Did mass consumer culture empower Americans in the 1920s?


"This is an excellent text. The author has chosen a remarkably interesting range of sources--images, videos, and music--that capture the period in its complexity. This is a great way to engage students with the 1920s and a model for how to present history."--Robert Allison, Suffolk University

"The Politics of Prosperity is a very clever way to bring together a variety of different 1920s issues under a main, cohesive question By tying consumption to the broader theme of 'empowerment, ' teachers using this text can bring together major economic, political, and cultural trends from the
decade."--Matthew Tribbe, Fullerton College