Are you ready for the Roaring '20s?

As vaccination rates have soared (even with all the new variants and surges adding some uncertainty to the mix) it's become clear that when the lockdowns finally lift, Americans will be primed for a new Roaring '20s, an exuberance expressed in fashion, art, music -- anywhere we can display the kind of manic joy that comes after a year when the world became very small and quiet. Our Roaring '20s would arrive a century after the end of the last massive pandemic, which occurred alongside a devastating war. The end of these twin crises unleashed a decade of exuberance and experimentation -- and a decade of growing inequality and deepening conservatism. "The war tore away our spiritual foundations and challenged our faith," Ellen Wells Page wrote, as she explained why she embraced the flapper lifestyle. "We are struggling to regain our equilibrium." As we enter the post-pandemic period, it's worth reflecting on how Americans navigated their reentry in the 1920s, and the ways their newfound vitality fed the era's dramatic cultural and political changes. But we should also take note of the lessons unlearned in last Roaring '20s. The radical dislocations of the early 20th century did not lead only to progressive expressions of the politics of identity. Many White conservatives were doubling down on their identity, too. The 1920s saw the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan in places far from the South (its largest bases were in Indiana and Oregon) and the institution of racist quota laws for immigration.