When you hear about the 1920s, you probably immediately think of flappers with bobbed hair, the gilded age memorialized by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and a time of unheard of prosperity in our nation's history. Known as the Roaring Twenties, the Golden Age, and the Jazz Age, the decade was a spectacular time in America, full of new slang and daring attitudes. 

Have you ever wanted to put on a poodle skirt and share a milkshake with someone special down at the diner? Many people remember the 1950s as a simpler time of well-behaved children, high morals, a booming economy, and clearly defined gender roles. The fifties certainly had their virtues—family was of the utmost importance and divorce was rare, hard work was valued and expected, and fashion was impeccable. 

Girls in mini skirts and boots screaming at Beatles' concerts, Martin Luther King giving his famous “I have a Dream” speech, Neil Armstrong stepping out onto the moon—the tumultuous 1960s were a time of change and progress after the seeming order and polite respectability of the fifties. Citizens were becoming more vocal about political issues, racial tensions erupted into both progress and disaster, and the younger generation rejected all established rules and cultural norms in favor of hippie or bohemian lifestyles that allowed anything and questioned everything.

The 1970s saw the results of the many social movements and whirlwind changes of the sixties, and times were left forever changed for women, minorities, and Americans in general in a bright new decade. The seventies saw a return-to-nature trend mixed with Space Age-style modernity, a self-reflective attitude that teetered toward selfishness, and a new-found liberation from tradition and morals that had decidedly mixed results. 

The 1980s was a loud, turbulent time, but it was also a time when the country faced its problems openly and directly and handled them without flinching. None of the disasters or problems the country faced could quite stamp out the joy of people discovering the internet, listening to punk, doing a little jazzercise, or just wearing neon and leg warmers. The eighties was all about optimism in the face of adversity, a country determined to move forward through any difficulties

The 1990s is remembered for grunge fashion, hip-hop music, and the invention of the modern internet. It was also a time to return to practicality and comfort after a decade of excess. Minimalism and simplicity influenced everything from fashion to home décor to lifestyle choices. Technology was also one of the defining forces of the decade, as televisions, PDA devices, and computers became sleek, high-functioning machines that were integral to everyday American life.