Overview

The first solo transatlantic flight. The release of the first talking picture. The invention of the jukebox. These are just a handful of milestones that occurred in one momentous year. In a decade of historic firsts, 1927 stands out as the peak year of the Roaring Twenties, a span of time in which dozens of significant events took place—in America and around the world. The economy was booming, the Jazz Age was in full swing, social mores were looser than ever, and the nation was celebrating new dances, new gadgets, and new heroes. In sports, records were broken and several champions in different fields thrilled fans with outstanding feats. In 1927: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of the Jazz Age’s Greatest Year, Thomas S. Hischak provides a daily account of this pivotal period in history. Every major news event—on the national and international stage—is accounted for, from popular culture phenomenons to minor news items that would prove to be more important later. In addition to Charles Lindbergh’s historic flight, the book recounts such events as the discovery of the Peking Man, the execution of Sacco and Vanzetti, the Shanghai Massacre, and the Great Mississippi River Flood. From the world of entertainment—the debut of the classic musical Showboat and the formation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences—to headlines that gripped the country, this book focuses on a diverse and complicated year. Scattered throughout the book are interesting tidbits of statistics and pieces of information regarding life during this era. Touching on all the people, inventions, and discoveries that made these twelve months so special, 1927 will appeal to armchair historians everywhere.

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9781538112779

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Hischak works his way through the calendar in brief encyclopedic entries, noting such significant events across the globe as the public opening of King Tut's tomb on the first day of the year, the haphazard leadership of President Calvin Coolidge, civil unrest in China and Nicaragua, the premiere of the first real sci-fi film, Metropolis by Fritz Lang, on January 10, and the October sixth premiere of the first talking picture, The Jazz Singer. That year witnessed several calamitous storms, including a typhoon that killed 16,000 people in the Pacific and hurricane-force winds and rain in California that claimed 243 lives. It was a time of milestones, such as the first solo transatlantic flight by Charles Lindbergh on February 25, the first San Francisco-London telephone call the next day, the lifting of the Bavarian ban on Adolf Hitler's speaking in public in March, and the mass protests on the eve of the execution of suspected anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti on August 21. * Publishers Weekly *

Hischak works his way through the calendar in brief encyclopedic entries, noting such significant events across the globe as the public opening of King Tut’s tomb on the first day of the year, the haphazard leadership of President Calvin Coolidge, civil unrest in China and Nicaragua, the premiere of the first real sci-fi film, Metropolis by Fritz Lang, on January 10, and the October sixth premiere of the first talking picture, The Jazz Singer. That year witnessed several calamitous storms, including a typhoon that killed 16,000 people in the Pacific and hurricane-force winds and rain in California that claimed 243 lives. It was a time of milestones, such as the first solo transatlantic flight by Charles Lindbergh on February 25, the first San Francisco–London telephone call the next day, the lifting of the Bavarian ban on Adolf Hitler’s speaking in public in March, and the mass protests on the eve of the execution of suspected anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti on August 21. * Publishers Weekly *

Author Information

Thomas S. Hischak is Hischak is emeritus professor of theatre at the State University of New York College at Cortland. He is the author or coauthor of more than twenty books, including The Encyclopedia of Film Composers (2015), Theatre as Human Action, Second Edition (2016), 1939: Hollywood’s Greatest Year (2017), and The 100 Greatest American and British Animated Films (2018), all published by Rowman & Littlefield.

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