"The Jazz Age", was a term coined by F. Scott Fitzgerald in The Great Gatsby (required reading for Absinthe Radio fans). Written in 1925, The Great Gatsby is one of the greatest literary documents of this period, in which the American economy soared, bringing unprecedented levels of prosperity to the nation. Prohibition, the ban on the sale and consumption of alcohol mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment, made millionaires out of bootleggers, and an underground culture of revelry sprang up, not unlike the underground culture of Absinthe. Sprawling private parties managed to elude police notice, and “speakeasies”—secret clubs that sold liquor—thrived. These clubs were typically owned and operate by the Mafia. Perhaps the most famous was the Cotton Club in Harlem where Duke Ellington and other famous orchestras performed for white-only audiences.

The chaos and violence of World War I had left America stunned, and the generation that fought the war turned to wild and extravagant living to compensate. The staid conservatism and timeworn values of the previous decade were turned on their ear, as money, opulence, and exuberance became the order of the day. Often called the Roaring Twenties, the postwar decade sometimes appears as one long flamboyant party, where the urban rich danced the Charleston and the foxtrot until 2 a.m. In fact, one might just as convincingly describe it as a period of individual possibility and lofty aspirations to serve the greater good. In his 1931 essay "Echoes of the Jazz Age," Fitzgerald wrote, "It was an age of miracles, it was an age of art, it was an age of excess, and it was an age of satire."

Among the prominent concerns and trends of the period are the public embrace of technological developments such as motor cars, air travel and the telephone, as well as new trends in social behavior, art and culture. Central developments included Art Deco design and architecture. A great theme of the age was individualism and a greater emphasis on the pursuit of pleasure and enjoyment.

With the onset of the Great Depression in 1929, the age saw a rapid decline and ultimate collapse.