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"In every town families had dropped from affluence into debt...Americans were soon to find themselves in an altered world which called for new adjustments, new ideas, new habits of thought, a new order of values. The Post-War Decade had come to its close. An era had ended." The era that followed was was the polar opposite of the one that had just gone down in flames: if the Twenties are remembered for confidence and prosperity, the Thirties was a decade of insecurity and want. The attached essay was penned by a popular author who knew the era well.

Yet, regardless of the horrors of The Crash, the United States was still an enormously wealthy nation...

The Increased Suicide Rate (Literary Digest, 1933)

With the arrival of the Great Depression came an increase in the American suicide rate. When this article appeared on the newsstands the Depression was just three and a half years old - with many more years yet to come. As the Americans saw 1932 come to a close, the records showed that 3,088 more acts of self-immolation had taken place than had been recorded the year before.

This article devoted very little column space to the growing number of global suicides, as the title indicates, but primarily concerns U.S. statistics, breaking down the figures by listing the cities with the higher suicide rates and what manner of adult was most likely to indulge.

When W.W. II began and the factories reopened, the reality of having money and full-time employment made so many people giddy with excitement it proved to be too much for them - click here to read about that...

Read about the the mood of the Great Depression and how it was reflected in the election of 1932 - click here...


Why Is God So Silent? (Jesus People, 1973)

Frederic W. Farrar (1831 - 1903), Dean of Canterbury Cathedral during the last eight years of the Victorian era saw fit to examine God's silence and seeming indifference while humanity struggles:

"Look at all the myriads of mankind who have lived only as the beast live, and have died as the fool dies".

"God makes no ado. He does not defend Himself. He suffers men to blaspheme. His enemies make a murmuring but he refrains. And much of what is said is awfully true - for those who utter it. To men, to nations, God is silent; there is no God. Their ears are closed so that they cannot hear. They who love the darkness have it. To those who will not listen, God does not speak."


Ulysses by James Joyce (NY Times, 1922)

Here is the 1922 review of Ulysses by James Joyce as it appeared in the NEW YORK TIMES:

"Before proceeding with a brief analysis of Ulysses and comment on its construction and its content, I wish to characterize it. Ulysses is the most important contribution that has been made to fictional literature in the Twentieth Century."

An interview with Joyce can be read here...


Finding Japanese Spies (The American Magazine, 1942)

Here is an interesting article by an American counter-espionage agent who tells several stories about the various Japanese spies he had encountered during the early months of the war. He wrote of his his frustrations with the civil liberty laws that were in place to protect both citizen and alien alike.


Trench Coats for Women (The Stars and Stripes, 1918)

The Donut Dollies, Nurses and Hello Girls needed trench coats, too. This link will display the printable image of a 1918 advertisement for one of the first American trench coats made for women.


The Fascisti (Current Opinion, 1921)

A tight little essay that clarifies the force behind Italian fascism. This was an editorial penned by Dr. Frank Crane, a pastor who appeared regularly in the pages of CURRENT OPINION.

"The Fascisti is a name given to a political party in Italy. Political parties, and indeed almost all organizations, as has often been pointed out, hold together and get their strength by hating something. The Fascisti hate the Bolshevists, Communists and the like."


Had Germany Really Deployed Women Soldiers? (The Stars and Stripes, 1919)

This paragraph was lifted from a longer article regarding the battle-savvy Native Americans of World War One and it supports the claims made in 1918 by a number of anonymous allied POW's who reported seeing female soldiers in German machine gun crews toward the close of the war. The article appeared after the Armistice and this was a time when The Stars and Stripes editors were most likely to abstain from printing patriotic hooey.

If you would like to read another article about women combatants in W.W. II, click here.


Down With Christian Dior and His 'New Look'! (Rob Wagner's Script, 1947)

The California fashion critic who penned this article believed that the fashions of Christian Dior stood firmly in opposition to the optimistic, Twentieth Century casual elegance of Claire McCardell (1905 – 1958) and Adrian (1903 – 1959). She could not bare Dior, with his vulgar penchant to spin

"the feminine figure in the unconventional manner, trying to make her look good where she ain't. He seeks the ballet dancer illusion - natural, rounded shoulders, too weak to support a struggling world...Her waist is pinched in an exaggerated indentation, the better to emphasize her padded hips...There are butterfly sleeves, box pockets, belled jackets, and barreled skirts, suggesting something like a Gibson girl, or whatever grandmother should have worn."

Click here to read a 1961 article about Jacqueline Kennedy's influence on American fashion.


The O.S.S. (Collier's Magazine, 1945)

This was more than likely the very first mainstream magazine article to address the vital contributions that the Office of Strategic Service made in beating the Axis powers. It appeared on the newsstands just about six weeks after the end of the Second World War and lists various key operations and triumphs that had heretofore been secret.