Chapter 20

This will probably be my favorite chapter. The World Wars were always very fascinating to me, especially the social ideas and events that came with them. One aspect that I want to touch on first is the Great Depression. I find it very interesting because it was the first time that capitalism was hit and went on a downward spiral. It really made me understand better how capitalism really worked when Strayer described the background of it and how it is unstable, "with cycles of boom and bust, expansion and recession." In the millennium, I find that we are still struggling with our economic system such as the recession in the late 2000s, and how the significant social inequalities still exist. Another part of this chapter that I always enjoyed reading about was the women of this time period. The "flappers" were very comfortable with themselves, and it also reminds me of the music and some of the artists around that time. Josephine Baker was the first person that came to mind. Of course I could not help but to mention Hitler and his Nazi Regime. After taking the Holocaust class, I found myself very fascinated by Germany's expression of European fascism. With that being said, I was captivated by Strayer's last words in this chapter, "History repeats itself most certainly only in its unexpectedness." I am not in no way comparing anyone to Hitler, but I find that we often find ourselves going back to certain mindsets that could potentially not only make that certain aspect of history repeat itself, but others as well. With the flappers, I think of the Women's March and how women are expressing themselves in a certain way today. With the Great Depression, we had a Great Recession and are still fighting with how the economic system should be in the U.S. With Germany's past issues, I think of the people who still have this kind of Nazi mentality and are now emboldened to enforce them in very subtle ways. I find myself very much engaged in how Strayer presents these chapters.