ABSTRACT
Life in britain in the 1920s and 1930s was varied and changeable. There was something for everyone in its kaleidoscopic patterns: drowsy vicarages and rose gardens for leftover Victorians; nightclubs and the Charleston for the moderns; destitution, unhappily for the jobless; riches, happily, for land promoters; tumultuous strikes for shop stewards; deferential waiters for rich diners; and politics of every variety—Tory, Liberal, Labour, Communist, Fascist, and Vegetarian. The tempo of life was often hectic and the tone strident, as insecurity and class hatreds mingled with brashness and cupidity. The 1920s were haunted by nightmares of the last war; the 1930s were haunted by fears of the next. But even more profound than these fears and nightmares in defining the reigning mood of the interwar years was the erratic behavior of the British economy.
