This issue is the fourth (and last) of what I originally thought would be a two-part series on the “Roaring Twenties”. Finally, the end!

● 1927. 1927 would long be remembered as one of the most consequential twelve months of the Roaring Twenties. One event in particular literally changed the world. It was a year of great triumph – but also great tragedy. Allen Churchill called it the “year the world went mad”. Two things are true about the 1920s: (1) Americans had become voracious readers and (2) Americans loved a spectacle. By the end of 1927 Americans (and much of the world) would also have a hero to worship, someone “so famous that crowds would form around any building that contained him and waiters would fight over a corncob left on his dinner plate.”

● The Roaring Twenties: Wing Walking (the era of wonderful nonsense). One might wonder whether this wide-open decade was some sort of pressure release with its “anything goes” attitude following the horrors of World War I. For women, they began shedding their corsets – and could finally vote! Crazy fads are most often associated with this decade. Flag pole sitting was daring enough, but wing-walking took daring (more like derring-do) to a whole new level.

● The Foulest Blow: The Disgrace of Tulsa. On June 2, 1921 with Tulsa’s Greenwood district still smoldering, one Oklahoma newspaper described the carnage as an “indescribable horror”. National guardsman were patrolling Tulsa’s streets as the city awakened “from a day and night of nightmares”. An editorial from the Tulsa World was reprinted over the next several days in newspapers across the state and around the nation. The city’s lament was entitled “The Disgrace of Tulsa”.

● Family History Tool Box. Sharing some of my favorite subscription sites for genealogical research and more.

● May I Recommend.

Enjoy the issue! The next issue will be a bit “wide open” with a variety of articles, including: “Avoiding the Rabbit Holes of Genealogical Research”, “The Night the Stars Fell (and other eerie events which scared the bejeebers out of our ancestors)” and more.