Description

1922 was a year of great turbulence and upheaval. Its events reverberated throughout the rest of the twentieth century and still affect us today, 100 years later.
Empires fell. The Ottoman Empire collapsed after more than six centuries. The British Empire had reached its greatest extent but its heyday was over. The Irish Free State was declared and demands for independence in India grew. New nations and new politics came into existence. The Soviet Union was officially created and Mussolini’s Italy became the first Fascist state.
In the USA, Prohibition was at its height. The Hollywood film industry, although rocked by a series of scandals, continued to grow. A new mass medium – radio – was making its presence felt and, in Britain, the BBC was founded. In literature it was the year of peak modernism. Both T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land and James Joyce’s Ulysses were first published in full.
In society, already changed by the trauma of war and pandemic, the morals of the past seemed increasingly outmoded; new ways of behaving were making their appearance. The Roaring Twenties had begun to roar and the Jazz Age had arrived.
In a sequence of vividly written sketches, Nick Rennison conjures up all the drama and diversity of an extraordinary year.

Publisher Review

Vivid... In this enjoyable slice of popular history, Rennison assembles a month-by-month almanac, including all the most notable moments from science, politics, art and culture * Guardian * Attempting a pithy summary of the events of any year is a difficult task, especially one as seismic as 1922. Nick Rennison has given it a go in this entertaining and thoroughly readable canter through the events of a century ago... Fascinating * Observer * This is a delightful book, and Rennison's selection is intelligent and lively. He has an eye for the significant detail and an agreeably dry tone... 1922 should please those who are well-versed in history, but it will also be a treat for those for whom the past is another country. * Scotsman * In crisp and evocative snatches, he gives monthly summaries of global events, domestic episodes, newspaper sensations, sporting triumphs and cultural acclaim during 1922... There is a moral lesson submerged in Rennison's playful selection of anecdotes. Life's tragedies bind humans together as much as hate and greed, and more tightly than love * Spectator * Fascinating and highly readable * Daily Mail *