William E. Leuchtenburg's Perils Of Prosperity

The time period between 1914-1932 provided immense political, economic, and social changes in the American society as a consequence of World War I. The end of World War I resulted in many political changes because the United States during the Roaring Twenties was led by Republicans, after many Americans became intolerant of Democratic President Wilson’s liberal policies. This political alternation provides the conservative era to emerge, playing a pivotal role throughout this time period. William E. Leuchtenburg uses excellent diction in the title of his novel, “Perils of Prosperity” in order to allow the readers to possess a precedence of the discussions that Leuchtenburg will address in his novel, leading to a pitfall, hence the word perils. Lechtenberg addresses the increase in consumerism conflict between, and the social division between rural and urban lifestyles, which ultimately leads to the Great Depression of 1929.

The economic prosperity of the 1920’s was

During the war, production increases for farmers whose land was not battle zones, although the end of the war gave way back to European production, thus providing a downfall in agricultural commodities. Many farm prices decreased between the years of 1920 to 1921, resulting in low incomes for farmers. Agriculture incomes remained stationary while “the United States moved rapidly from an agrarian to an industrial nation” (Leuchtenberg 229). It was not uncommon that many rural Americans did not trust the urban Americans, this is portrayed in the election of 1928 because “Alfred E.Smith and the campaign of 1928 all the tensions between rural and urban America reached their highest pitch” (Leuchtenberg 229). The rural Americans experienced the Great Depression beginning in 1920 rather than the urban Americans in 1929, causing decreased incomes, playing a role in the development of the Great