The Jazz Age

Recommended reading for fans of The History of the Twentieth Century. These are some of my favorite sources for the Jazz Age portion of the podcast (1919-1939):

The Russian Revolution
by Richard Pipes

This remains an authoritative work. Yes, Pipes is as virulent an anti-communist as they come, but his scholarship is strong.

A History of Twentieth-Century Russia
by Robert Service

Really a history of the USSR, but a comprehensive one.

Red Summer: The Summer of 1919 and the Awakening of Black America
by Cameron McWhirter

Compelling account of the violence of the time but also of the emerging movement for civil rights.

The Harding Era: Warren G. Harding and His Administration
by Robert K. Murray

First biography written after the release of the Harding archive. Thorough, sympathetic to its subject, but lacks more recent information and reflects the biases of its time.

Prohibition: A Concise History
by W.J. Rorabaugh

Short, but vivid and packed with information.

Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World
by Liaquat Ahamed

An eminently readable and erudite account of the decisions taken in the major economies after the Great War, most of which seemed reasonable (or at least defensible) at the time, yet led the world into economic disaster.