Author Introduction

Transcript

The 20th century was profoundly different for Americans and people around the world, in part because of technological changes. With the invention of the airplane and the automobile, the pace of life accelerated. Life was much busier. It was almost frenetic compared to the 19th century. Space and time were collapsed. New ideas emerged. Whether it was Albert Einstein or Sigmund Freud, provocative new ideas emerged in science and the arts.

At the same time, of course, it was a century that witnessed terrible wars, world wars of unimaginable horror, scope, transition, and transformation. The economic dynamics of the 20th century changed dramatically. Huge international corporations arose, and trade flourished for the first time in modern history. All of these changes were both bewildering and exciting. And they resulted in a very different outlook for Americans as the 20th century unfolded. What they used to consider normal was no longer the case. Everyday life was transformed.