In what ways were the anxieties of the postwar world expressed or heightened by revolutionary ideas in modern thought, art, and science and in new forms of communication?
Unlocking the Power of the AtomMany of the fanciful visions of science fiction came true in the twentieth century, although not exactly as first imagined. This 1927 cartoon satirizes a professor who has split the atom and has unwittingly destroyed his building and neighborhood in the process. In the Second World War scientists harnessed the atom in bombs and decimated faraway cities and their inhabitants. (© Mary Evans Picture Library/The Image Works)
MMANY PEOPLE HOPED THAT HAPPIER TIMES would return after the war, along with the familiar prewar ideals of peace, prosperity, and progress. These hopes were in vain. Great numbers of men and women felt themselves increasingly adrift in an age of anxiety and continual crisis.