Some people call the new decade the Roaring Twenties, some call it the Jazz Age, and some the Dance Age. Whichever you choose, it seems like a time of fun and change. It isn't just getting the vote that is changing women's lives. In 1919, before the twenties began their roar, women's ankles could sometimes be glimpsed beneath long skirts. Then skirts started going up, and up, and up. Some daring women now wear bathing suits that leave their legs bare. And makeup! Even nice women are wearing lipstick. Girls are bobbing their hair—cutting it short. Those girls are called "flappers ." They drive cars, get jobs, go to the movies, read romantic novels, play Ping-Pong, and dance . My, do they dance! It is the big thing in the twenties. Some couples dance in marathons to see who could last longest and win a prize . And the big dance is the Charleston.

What a time this is! Successful businesspeople are national heroes. The stock market—like women's hems—is going up and up. Land values are booming. The car is replacing the horse and buggy . And canned food, washing machines, telephones, and indoor plumbing can be found in ordinary homes. Young people are flocking to the movies, and, in 1927, the movies start talking . Talk about fun!

Of all the new technologies, radio may be having the most impact. Ordinary people now sit around the radio and listen to comedy shows and nightly news. When Warren Harding is elected in 1920, he addresses the nation over the radio. Imagine that—people can actually hear their president's voice! In the Roaring Twenties more people have more money than ever before. And, mostly, they are intent on having a good time. Even though for a few years—called Prohibition —there is a constitutional amendment outlawing liquor, people are still drinking it, in illegal bars called speakeasies . Some people behave as if life is just one long, frantic party. But the number of people without jobs is growing. Farmers are in trouble . And the returning war veterans often feel out of place in these roaring times. The novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald speaks on behalf of many when he writes, "Our generation has grown up to find all gods dead, all wars fought, all faiths in man shaken."

After the war, everything was supposed to be better. But anyone can see it isn't. So maybe the best thing to do is to forget about ideals and have a good time—frantically—which was what a lot of Americans do in the twenties.