The booksigning and my latest research

The booksigning at the Old Exchange Building in Charleston went pretty well. I'll be doing another one next Saturday, May 3, at the same location. For someone with my incredibly limited budget it's a good way to get the word out about the book and actually talk to people face-to-face about it. (Corporate America calls it "facetime," which is a fancy word for "talking.")
I met one gentleman from Homeland Security who seemed particularly intested in the subject of smuggling prevention. I also met a few Sailors and Marines. Of course when I spoke with the Marines, we didn't bother talking about the book, we just shared memories of the Corps.

I've been going through more old newspapers on microfilm. There's a great website called newspaperarchive.com, which has a great collection of old newspapers, some going back to colonial times. So if you ever need a good collection of primary sources and you don't feel like leaving your computer, newspaperarchive.com is a great starting point. The best part about the site is that you can type in some key words and the search engine will actually pull up those newspapers, which you can view in their entirety.

I've also been reading a great book titled "Only Yesterday" by Frederick Lewis Allan. The book, which was first published in 1931, gives a good overall summary of the 1920's for the layman. Anyone can pick up that book, read it, and understand it, regardless of their knowledge of history. What is interesting to note is that the 1920's was very similar to the 1960's in certain ways, including a revolution in music, dance, sexuality, intellectualism, phsychology, and a widespread disregard for traditional values. The Victorians considered Jazz the Devil's music much like rock and roll would be considered later on. The 1920's also brought provacative dancing like the tango, the mambo, and many other styles of dance that involved girating body parts, sexually suggestive moves, and close physical contact between men and women. Sex before marriage became far more common and socially acceptable. Because of the general disillusionment following the Great War, plus the public's greater exposure to new scientific theories explaining the universe, many Americans disregarded religion and Victorian ideals. However, while there were many who disregarded the old values, there were just as many Americans who held on tightly to their old ideals, like the Prohibitionists.

If you want to read the definitive book on the '20's, "Only Yesterday" is that book.