The unbounded optimism of the Jazz Age and the shocking consequences when reality finally hit on October 29th, ultimately leading to the Great Depression.
John Kenneth Galbraith, economist
One of the things you must understand about 1929 and the antecedent years, as about any speculative episode, is the danger… in attributing intelligence to the simple fact that people are associated with large sums of money or large financial operations. We don’t ask whether they’re intelligent. We say, they’re associated with all this money, so they must be intelligent. We attribute intelligence to association with financial operations. And only afterwards do we discover that error and that the people involved can be extremely successful in gulling themselves. That they can be in effect, and I use the word advisedly, marvelously stupid.
I used to be quite an optimist… I thought that by keeping the memory of the 1929 crash alive we would have a warning against the kind of feckless, fatuous optimism which caused people to get in and shove up the markets and shove it up more and get carried away by the illusion of ever-increasing wealth. I’ve given up on that hope because we’ve had it happen too often again since.
P.T. Barnum -- huckster, con man, promoter, entertainer and founder of "The Greatest Show on Earth".
From Reconstruction to the 1960s, this film offers a portrait of New Orleans that reflects the best and the worst in America.
As the star attraction of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, Annie Oakley thrilled audiences around the world with her shooting feats. Part of the Wild West collection.
Their intense faith and strict adherence to 300-year-old traditions have by turn captivated and repelled, awed and irritated, inspired and confused America.
The little-known story of a black independent film industry that produced nearly 500 feature films for African American audiences.
The country's oldest beauty contest has become a battleground and a barometer for the position of women in society.
The influential musical pioneers from Appalachia whose recordings lifted spirits during the Great Depression.
A revealing portrait of one of America's most paradoxical leaders.
