Review of ‘Dressed to Kill: Consumption, Style and the Gangster (Ruth, 1996)’

The 1920s was an age of drastic social and political changes. For the first time in history, more Americans started living in cities rather than on farms. Americans were wealthier than ever before. People from coast to coast bought similar goods, listened to the same music, did the same dances, and even used related slang. Numerous Americans were uncomfortable with this unfamiliar, urban, and occasionally racy “mass culture”. In fact, for a large number of people in the United States, the 1920s brought more conflict than celebration. However, for a minuscule handful of youth in the nation’s larger cities, the 1920s were roaring. Prohibition gave criminals a way to illegally make money; gangsters, young men who worked in criminal gangs, began selling on the black-market alcohol. Young woman emerged during the 1920s with different appearance, attitude, and behavior; with a bobbed haircut and short skirts.

Even if the 1920’s seem affluent and prosperous on the surface, the realities of time contradicted such notions; in fact, it can be clearly stated that this decade should not be judged as an era of wealth. Inequality was rampant in society at this time, especially when it comes to stark income differences between the upper, middle and lower classes. While it can be said that the upper classes, who make up a mere 1% of the population enjoyed most of these materialistic luxuries, the vast majority of the American population was barely getting by.

During the period of prohibition, from 1920 to 1933, the sale, manufacture and transportation of alcohol was made illegal, through the Volstead act of 1919, leading to the first and only time an Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was repealed. Throughout this time in American history gangsters were common and were constantly increasing in every city but one in particular stood out from all the others making a significant impact on American history. Scarface, Alphonse Capone or more commonly known as Al Capone; who was the most infamous gangster, taking advantage of the era of Prohibition, ran an organized crime association in Chicago during the 1920s. He was responsible for over 500 murders; he had 700 men under his control and earned $60 million a year for bootlegging. Capone, who was glamorised in media and shown as charitable to the helpless was also controlling and violent and became an iconic figure of the successful American gangster who insisted he was just ‘supplying the public demand’.

The wage-earning class was the debtors, debtors who owed money and had to work to make a living for creditors, most of whom made up what would be known as the middle class. The tradition of fathers passing their land on down to their sons was slowly dying such as with Mayo Greenleaf Patch and his sons. Mayo Patch’s life was riddled with owing debts to the middle

The 1920s was an age of drastic social and political changes. For the first time in history, more Americans started living in cities rather than on farms. Americans were wealthier than ever before. People from coast to coast bought similar goods, listened to the same music, did the same dances, and even used related slang. Numerous Americans were uncomfortable with this unfamiliar, urban, and occasionally racy “mass culture”. In fact, for a large number of people in the United States, the 1920s brought more conflict than celebration. However, for a minuscule handful of youth in the nation’s larger cities, the 1920s were roaring. Prohibition gave criminals a way to illegally make money; gangsters, young men who worked in criminal gangs, began selling on the black-market alcohol. Young woman emerged during the 1920s with different appearance, attitude, and behavior; with a bobbed haircut and short skirts.

Once Capone had reached a reasonable measure of success, he made sure to be an equal opportunity employer in order to help others around him reach his level of prosperity. A Chicago photographer once wrote, “He knew how to pick people for certain positions in certain categories… And they were not all Italians. He had people of every nationality you could think of.” Capone also valued honesty in all aspects of his life. He viewed himself as “just a businessman who supplies people with what they want to buy, in the good old American way.” Capone also noted that if he was not a gangster, he would have likely been “selling newspapers barefoot on the street in Brooklyn.” Capone understands that his life is not a safe or secure one, and values honestly and simplicity in his life.

The 1920s are described as “roaring” because major social developments occurred during the 20s, as shown by the creation of a consumer culture. The Great Gatsby depicts the consumer society when Fitzgerald’s fictional character Daisy Buchanan bawls, “‘They're such beautiful shirts,’ she sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick folds. ‘It makes me sad because I’ve never seen such-such beautiful shirts before,’” (Fitzgerald 99). Fitzgerald’s portrayal of the fictional character Daisy represents the consumer culture of the 1920s; Americans were obsessed with materialistic wealth. Also, during the 1920s, the economic wealth of America increased by twofold, granting many American families with a newfound disposable income.

Nowadays, the middle class is shrinking, while majority of people are either moving into the lower or upper classes. This is due to the major economic and policy changes that have occurred throughout the past thirty years. Based on the Basic Economy Security Tables, one in four full-time working-age adults are not earning enough income to meet economic needs for themselves or their families. This is a serious problem in America today, the fact that the median income today is six hundred dollars less than it was in 1989 is proof of this epidemic. It is much harder now, than ever, to work your way into the middle class, much less stay there. The percentage income growth since 1967 for the top 5 percent of earners is 88%, top 20 percent of earners grew 70%, and middle-income households only grew 20%. (Camp) In simpler terms, the upper classes income has increased tremendously, while middle-income households have seen very little growth in their income. Since the middle class is not receiving any income growth, it is declining and moving towards the lower class. It is not nearly as easy as it was thirty years ago to get a decent job and make

The decade following World War I proved to be the most explosive decade of the century. America emerged as a world power, the 19th amendment was ratified, and the expansion of capitalism welcomed the emergence of consumerism. The consumer era was established, which generated new spending opportunities for most Americans in the 1920’s. From the latest fashions to the world of politics, ideologies collided to construct a society based on contradicting principles. These powerful ideologies infected men and women of all classes with an inescapable desire for material possessions; however this ideological tug-of war affected women the most. Although legally declared citizens, society’s

The 1920s was a “time of great criminal activity, with prohibition laws in America and the world in an economic depression” (Nash, 1). Organized criminals such as American mobsters thrived during this time. Al Capone, Bonnie and Clyde, and John Dillinger were the most well-known of the gangsters at the time, many of the common people looked to these criminals as “heroes”. There were a tremendous amount of people who turned to criminal activity; mostly because jobs were scarce and

Bootlegging, the distribution and dealing of an illegal substance, was becoming increasingly popular with liquor outlawed. Bootleggers would go to great extents to bring in liquor to their customers, prymarily speakeasy owners, as well as making sure they did not lose their customers to the other vaious gangs in the area. To ensure this threats were made to owners, gang wars began, and many murders occurred. (“Prohibition”) Those who became successful bootleggers became emmensly rich and powerful resulting in the expansion and flourishing of organized crime. Most organized crime leaders, gangsters, were wealthy and lived, at least on the outside, a sophisticated and exuberant life. In fact durning the Prohibition Era many people idolized bootlegging and gangs because it was a fast way to get rich and powerful.This would lead to an increase in the population of gangs. These gangs could be extremely dangerous and would kill many, ultimately causing an increase in homicide rates by 13% ("Organized Crime and Prohibition”). The reasoning behind the homicide rates going up is simple; as different mobs became more powerful in their areas and their range of illegal activities expanded they got more attention and this attention caused for rivalrys between different mobs and a higher police involvement in attempting to end the

Aside from the Great Depression that caused the majority of Americans to fall into the lower class, ecology and military action altered the American class alike. Citizens bore unjustifiable prejudice against fellow citizens and thus divided the nation. Because of this, people were classified into privileged and the unprivileged. The Dust Bowl and the attack on Pearl Harbor assumed a significant role in reshaping social structure in the mid-1900s America, and the resulting burdens from such class differences were substantial.

Bonnie and Clyde Criminals ran rampant during the prohibition era of the 1920’s. At the end of the Roaring 20’s, a new couple roared onto the scenes becoming America's sweethearts and one of the greatest notorious criminals know to the nation. Bonnie and Clyde caught interest all over the world just as much as their criminal actions. Bonnie Parker was born October 1st of 1910 in Rowena Texas. Bonnie and Clyde had met in Texas in 1930.

Racketeers and gangsters competed for business, spawning a wave of violence across the nation” (Hanson 35). No place was more evident of this than Chicago.

During this period the rise of urban gang rule and mobsters was unprecedented, mainly emerging from minority immigrant groups (Jewish/Italian/Irish). Initially the gangsters of the period were seen as high achievers as they were associated with the proletariat and seemed to be capable of rising above there roots, even during hard times in America, and achieve wealth. When considering the socio-economic factors it is easy to understand why such men were considered as "gangster-heroes"[3] who represented the people, however the only way that gangsters could achieve this wealth, subsequently fulfilling the American Dream, was by stealing it. " Accruing capital meant accruing power over others"[4].