Dear internet, clearly this is important.

[vorindi]

3rdragon and I are writing a story in which several people (from now-ish) end up in 1928. I'm trying to decide what they know about the time period.

So, internet, what are the first few things you think of when you think of the 1920s? (Our intrepid time-travelers do not have internet access, so please don't google for information first.)

Comments

[astaraelweeper]

Flappers. Dorothy Parker. The golden age of the red carpet movie theaters, with their gilded art deco decor. Easy credit, and very high income inequality, at least in the U.S. Washing machines and automobiles are first becoming available to ordinary people. (What's that quote about never expecting to be so rich as to own a car or so poor as to be unable to afford a maid?) Almost everyone smokes. Women's suffrage is new, and still a topic of hot debate, and people aren't quite sure what to think about it. Railroads are still the dominant mode of transportation around the U.S. and Europe, and ships across the Atlantic. The stock market crash will not come until the fall of 1929

[vorindi]

They're working on getting a newspaper. The bit where all of their money hasn't technically been minted yet is slowing this down a little.

[astaraelweeper]

If they're in a populated area, can't they participate in the time-honored tradition of swiping an old/used one from a cafe, train station, or other place where people tended to leave them?

[vorindi]

. . . Yes. Yes they could.

[astaraelweeper]

In terms of logistics for this sort of thing, I recommend reviewing DWJ's The Homeward Bounders.