As "the American century" dawned, the country's religious bodies faced a distinctly modern world, one in which the United States would often take center stage. If the Civil War had represented the growing pains of the nation's adolescence,...

In the first decade of the twentieth century three of the inventions that would dominate the century technologically were either invented or underwent their early development: the automobile, the airplane, and the radio. The automobile and the roads...

In some ways the 1900s were the last decade of the nineteenth century. The opulence and self-confidence of the wealthy, which had suffered a temporary, if severe, setback in the depression of 1893-1894, were back on display in Newport, Rhode Island,...

In the first decade of the twentieth century medical practice in the United States remained much as it had been throughout the nineteenth century — a curious mixture of the effective and what is now known to be the ridiculous. Luckily, the ratio...

In the first decade of the century, Americans began to experience the first of the technological transformations that would make life in the twentieth century so much different than life in the nineteenth century. Two technological innovations alone...

On 10 April 1899, on the eve of a new century and enthused by his personal triumph with the Rough Riders in the Spanish-American War, a young Theodore Roosevelt called on his fellow Americans to meet the challenges of the dawning age. "The...

In an age before radio and television claimed the attention of Americans, reading was one of the most popular leisure-time activities. American writers and publishers churned out a variety of reading material to suit the tastes of every reader, from...

Music was an immensely popular form of entertainment in America in the first decade of the century, though not in the same way it is today. Americans did not buy prerecorded records or CDs and play them on stereo equipment. Instead, most American...

The S-curve silhouette is the dominant look in women's fashion. Rollin H. White of the White Sewing Machine Company of Cleveland, Ohio, begins marketing a steam-engine automobile, which he calls "The Incomparable White." Stately and powerful,...

if (window.showTocToggle) { var tocShowText = "show"; var tocHideText = "hide"; showTocToggle(); } Events and trends Technology Public flight demonstration of an airplane by Alberto Santos-Dumont in Paris, November 12, 1906. Lawrence Hargrave makes the...