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Introduction

Laila Haidarali

in Brown Beauty: Color, Sex, and Race from the Harlem Renaissance to World War II

This book interrogates the multiple meanings of brown as reference to physical complexion in the representation of African American womanhood during the interwar years. It questions how and why color ... More

This book interrogates the multiple meanings of brown as reference to physical complexion in the representation of African American womanhood during the interwar years. It questions how and why color in general and brownness in particular came to intimate race, class, gender, and sex identity as one prominent response to modernity and urbanization. This book shows that throughout the interwar years, diverse sets of African American women and men, all of whom can be defined as middle class within this constituency’s widely varying class membership, privileged brown complexions in their reworking of ideas, images, and expressions to identify the representative bodies of women as modern New Negro women.Less

Natalism, Homosexuality, and the Controversy over Corydon

Jeffrey Merrick

in Homosexuality in Modern France

This chapter examines the history of homosexuality, natalism, and the controversy surrounding André Gide's book Corydon in France during the early 1900s. It mentions studies indicating that a vast ... More

This chapter examines the history of homosexuality, natalism, and the controversy surrounding André Gide's book Corydon in France during the early 1900s. It mentions studies indicating that a vast homosexual culture thrived in Paris during the sexual revolution of the interwar years and suggests that this period constituted something of a golden age for French homosexuality. However, Gide's book has shown that tolerance of homosexuality was almost nonexistent outside of the capital and uncommon even within Paris. Many of the men and women who “came out” during this time experienced provincial intolerance, parental dismay, and public antipathy.Less

Flourishing in Exile: French Missionaries in Syria and Lebanon under Mandate Rule

Jennifer M. Dueck

in In God’s Empire: French Missionaries and the Modern World

This chapter explores the place of missionaries during the period of French mandate rule over Syria and Lebanon that spanned the decades between two world wars. The Syrian and Lebanese contexts ... More

This chapter explores the place of missionaries during the period of French mandate rule over Syria and Lebanon that spanned the decades between two world wars. The Syrian and Lebanese contexts during the interwar years illustrate the great variety of factors that shaped government-missionary interaction, including diverse local circumstances, shrewd calculation on both sides, and an unstable balance of power between French administrators, missionaries, and local leaders. The French government-missionary relationship in Syria and Lebanon certainly had a coherent foundation, but was also shaped by significant local specificities and conflicts.Less

The interwar years, 1921–1939

in Demography, State and Society: Irish Migration to Britain, 1921–1971

This chapter discusses Irish migration during the interwar years, which were notable for a fundamental change in the nature of international migration. These years were a period during which ... More

This chapter discusses Irish migration during the interwar years, which were notable for a fundamental change in the nature of international migration. These years were a period during which population growth, emigration, and immigration came under close official scrutiny throughout Europe. It is noted that the United States became a much less attractive choice for Irish migrants in the interwar years, with Britain offered opportunities which the United States did not. From the mid-1930s onwards, Britain emerged as the primary terminal for Irish migrants. The issue of Irish migration to Britain continued to be a subject of concern for both the Labour (1929–31) and National (1931–5, 1935–7) governments, and was of sporadic concern to policy makers in Britain. It can be concluded that anxiety existed on occasions in British official circles regarding Irish immigration throughout the interwar period.Less

Government, University, Research, and Radio Industry in Canada

Aitor Anduaga

in Wireless and Empire: Geopolitics, Radio Industry, and Ionosphere in the British Empire, 1918-1939

This chapter shows how a branch-plant industry tradition and geographical and demographic factors strongly influenced the development of radio industry in Canada. While a small group of companies ... More

This chapter shows how a branch-plant industry tradition and geographical and demographic factors strongly influenced the development of radio industry in Canada. While a small group of companies with American affiliations strove to control patents and to monopolize the market, many small firms specialized in the assembly of imported components and manufacture. This structure, however, promoted little innovation and much mass production. The result was an oligopolistic and successful industry in purely economic terms, while being derivative in technological terms. Consequently, the incentive to R&D, which might have multiplied the openings for qualified personnel (as it did in Australia), was practically non-existent. In short, the Canadian and New Zealand companies were not powerful enough to house industrial laboratories and to absorb the supply of trained manpower that was a fund of expertise and richness for Australia or Britain.Less

Tradition: Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach II

Harold James

in Krupp: A History of the Legendary German Firm

This chapter details the Krupps' struggles during the aftermath of the war, as the company struggled to find a new role in a state that was reinventing itself dramatically. It describes workplace ... More

This chapter details the Krupps' struggles during the aftermath of the war, as the company struggled to find a new role in a state that was reinventing itself dramatically. It describes workplace struggles, the postwar demilitarization efforts, Krupp's attempts at hidden rearmament, financial troubles, and other difficulties buffeting the company in the aftermath of World War I. The chapter also depicts a period of stabilization and recovery for the company, though the reprieve would be short-lived, as economic depression would strike Germany sometime during the 1920s. In addition, this period heralded the arrival of a new patriarch, Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach II.Less

Breaking up the jigsaw

Anne Power and John Houghton

in Jigsaw cities: Big places, small spaces

This chapter examines the role that housing and urban policy played in sucking out people in the interwar years, leaving decay and squalor behind. It notes that the reality of poverty, squalor, and ... More

This chapter examines the role that housing and urban policy played in sucking out people in the interwar years, leaving decay and squalor behind. It notes that the reality of poverty, squalor, and disease drove new forms of town planning that were supposed to overcome the endemic problems of urban poverty. It claims however, that one Utopian model of urban and housing planning was developed in the early 20th century with real enthusiasm and exported all over the world. It notes that the Garden City movement managed to combine enterprise and cooperation, houses and gardens with public and social amenities, in a totally new form of philanthropic endeavour that was eventually to capture the imagination of governments. It also looks at the devastating urban consequences of the First World War.Less

Organizing Radio Research in New Zealand

Aitor Anduaga

in Wireless and Empire: Geopolitics, Radio Industry, and Ionosphere in the British Empire, 1918-1939

Like Australia and Canada, New Zealand tried to emulate a similar model of research organization from Britain, the ‘mother country’. But the newly formed DSIR (Department of Scientific and Industrial ... More

Like Australia and Canada, New Zealand tried to emulate a similar model of research organization from Britain, the ‘mother country’. But the newly formed DSIR (Department of Scientific and Industrial Research), whose main architect was Ernest Marsden, symbolically promoted radio research. Between 1926 and 1937, as imperial science tried to become national, New Zealand failed in its attempt at following in the footprints of neighbouring Australia. The outcome was the Australianization of New Zealand’s radio science. Structural factors underlie this phenomenon: the smallness of market and geographical and demographical limitations favoured the proliferation of subsidiaries of American and Australian companies. These and other circumstances condemned radio to remain in the background, at least until the potential of radar was grasped. New Zealand’s involvement in the Allies’radar programme and the ionospheric prediction service contributed to an unprecedented level of radio research. At the end of World War II, its defensive potential was impressive: six ionospheric stations out of a world total of 50.Less

Political Isolationism, Economic Expansionism, or Diplomatic Realism: American Policy Toward Western Europe, 1921–1933

Melvyn P. Leffler

in Safeguarding Democratic Capitalism: U.S. Foreign Policy and National Security, 1920-2015

This chapter considers U.S. foreign policy during the interwar years. It shows that, although the Republican officials did not wish to incur strategic commitments abroad, get embroiled in European ... More

This chapter considers U.S. foreign policy during the interwar years. It shows that, although the Republican officials did not wish to incur strategic commitments abroad, get embroiled in European political controversies, or defend the open door with the use of military force or economic sanctions, they were nonetheless engaged in and concerned with international affairs. Although they did want to expand U.S. markets abroad, gain access to critical raw materials, and direct U.S. private loans into productive purposes, they did not want to compromise domestic priorities or overextend the role of government in the American political economy. Seeing no short-term or even intermediate-term threats to vital U.S. interests, they were inclined to take measured steps to promote world stability and international order. They had a sense of the limits of American power and American interests, and they were not inclined to exaggerate their ability to alter French or Japanese views of their own vital interests.Less

‘The Roar of the Underground Railway’: The Making of the Tube in the Interwar Years

in Underground Writing: The London Tube from George Gissing to Virginia Woolf

This chapter examines the works of fiction related to the London Tube during the interwar years. It investigates how and why modernism engaged with the underground until the beginning of World War II ... More

This chapter examines the works of fiction related to the London Tube during the interwar years. It investigates how and why modernism engaged with the underground until the beginning of World War II and analyzes the relevant writings of Virginia Woolf and Arnold Bennett. This chapter also explores the elements of the so-called Tubism, a formation of artistic, literary and cultural practices and artifacts that emerged during this period.Less

Introduction: The Machine with a Soul

Katy Hull

in The Machine Has a Soul: American Sympathy with Italian Fascism

This introductory chapter discusses how the representation of fascism as a machine with a soul explains why Italian fascism appealed to some Americans in the interwar years. Although Richard Washburn ... More

This introductory chapter discusses how the representation of fascism as a machine with a soul explains why Italian fascism appealed to some Americans in the interwar years. Although Richard Washburn Child, a former ambassador to Italy, and other fascist sympathizers echoed their contemporaries in their critiques of American modernity, they parted ways with most other Americans in their interpretation of Benito Mussolini and his government. In their telling, fascism was an effective system for managing contemporary challenges because it delivered the material benefits of the machine age while protecting Italians from its emotionally draining effects. These observers claimed that the fascists had intentionally reformed democratic institutions to create a government that was more receptive to the needs of ordinary people. In each case, they asserted that fascism produced a different kind of modernity from that which prevailed in the United States — one that upheld traditions, restored connections between government and the governed, and rebalanced the relationship between men and machines. The chapter then provides a background of the four individuals selected for the in-depth study of fascist sympathies: Richard Washburn Child, the diplomat and writer; Anne O'Hare McCormick, the New York Times journalist; Generoso Pope, the Italian-American community leader; and Herbert Wallace Schneider, the professor of moral philosophy.Less

Continuities and New Voices

Margery Palmer McCulloch

in Scottish Modernism and its Contexts 1918-1959: Literature, National Identity and Cultural Exchange

This chapter discusses the changes brought to modernist art as a result of the First and Second World Wars, one of which was the contribution of the women writers who became popular during the ... More

This chapter discusses the changes brought to modernist art as a result of the First and Second World Wars, one of which was the contribution of the women writers who became popular during the interwar years. Another change was the emergence of new poets and writers in the 1940s and 1950s. The chapter notes that not all of these new poets can be considered as modernist writers, and that the Scottish modernists of the post-1918 period have forever changed the course of Scottish literature.Less

Melancholy, modernity and the middlebrow: the twenties and thirties

in Sophistication: A Literary and Cultural History

This chapter examines the literary treatment of sophistication during the interwar years. It suggests that the 1920s and 1930s can be considered the Age of Sophistication, because they encapsulate ... More

This chapter examines the literary treatment of sophistication during the interwar years. It suggests that the 1920s and 1930s can be considered the Age of Sophistication, because they encapsulate the balancing between nostalgia and modernness which is typical of twentieth–century sophistication. It analyses several relevant works of the period including Noël Coward's play Private Lives, Edith Wharton's novel The Age of Innocence, and F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Beautiful and Damned.Less

Introduction

Stephen R. Ortiz

in Beyond the Bonus March and GI Bill: How Veteran Politics Shaped the New Deal Era

This introductory chapter examines the transformation of veteran policies throughout the interwar years, one that paralleled the changes to twentieth-century American liberalism during the same ... More

This introductory chapter examines the transformation of veteran policies throughout the interwar years, one that paralleled the changes to twentieth-century American liberalism during the same period. The sweeping Bonus-March-to-GI-Bill narrative is briefly summarized and hence contextualized into the spheres of federal veterans' policy, institutional rivalries between the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion, and the larger political milieu. Interwar federal policies had provoked repeated political mobilizations by veterans and veteran organizations seeking to reverse or amend those policy decisions. Elected officials in Congress, bureaucrats, and presidents were all forced to conceptualize and implement veterans policy—and in many cases, to reconceptualize it and re-implement it—in response to the strength of veteran organizations' political activism and in deference to the “soldiers' vote.” In the process, veteran issues and veteran politics drew to the epicenter of larger political battles.Less

Conclusion: Searching for Soul under the Sign of the Machine

Katy Hull

in The Machine Has a Soul: American Sympathy with Italian Fascism

This concluding chapter argues that by understanding the United States as their contemporaries understood it — as a nation living “under the sign of the Machine,” unable to turn back — one can ... More

This concluding chapter argues that by understanding the United States as their contemporaries understood it — as a nation living “under the sign of the Machine,” unable to turn back — one can appreciate the appeal of fascism as a machine with a soul. The idea of a machine with a soul would have felt incongruous to Americans in the interwar years, when they were exposed to frequent ruminations on the soulless aspects of their mechanized society. The incongruity of the conceit explains its appeal. Most Americans did not believe it was desirable, or even possible, to reject modernization. The machine with a soul indicated that there was no need. Benito Mussolini's Italy, as configured by the American fascist sympathizers, suggested that it was possible to have both: the energy, efficiency, and high-sheen glamour that they associated with machines; and the feelings of fulfillment, connectivity, and peace that felt so elusive in the modern age.Less

Department Stores and Downtown Shopping

in A City Consumed: Urban Commerce, the Cairo Fire, and the Politics of Decolonization in Egypt

This chapter focuses on shopping, particularly the people who circulated and worked in downtown commercial districts in Egypt and the department stores that anchored them. Close examination of the ... More

This chapter focuses on shopping, particularly the people who circulated and worked in downtown commercial districts in Egypt and the department stores that anchored them. Close examination of the histories of stores, their owners and employees, and their customers demonstrates the multiple ways that people identified as Egyptian in the interwar years.Less