Born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in 1896, Francis Scott Fitzgerald eventually settled in New York City. His writings frequently deal with the East Coast social circles and are best known for documenting the 1920s "jazz age" and the era of Prohibition. His novel The Great Gatsby deals with this period, and its literary and commercial success helped make him one of the most prominent literary figures of the time. From gangsters to Prohibition to contemporary social customs, Fitzgerald's work portrays a slice of New York during the 1920s.
New York in the 1920s. In the aftermath of the first world war, the United States experienced a rush of prosperity and optimism. Perhaps nowhere else did this social and economic change evidence itself more clearly than in New York City. Wall Street hosted the fervor of an unprecedented "bull"-or prosperous-market. People from all walks of life, from businessmen to teachers to clerks, began buying stocks "on margin." Instead of buying the stocks outright, they would deposit with a broker a percentage of money or other security as a provision against loss on the deal.
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