Best/Worst Decade in American History

[El Ishmael]

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The 1930s kinda blew ass too, because of the whole Great Depression thing and WWII (which we got into in '39). But I'm splitting hairs.

I like the 1960s for good -- so much social progress, etc.

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We got into it in 1941. It began in 1939. And this isn't the point, damnit!

[Soul Daddy]

I took a U.S. in the 1960s course in college. It was fascinating and I know that we really only scratched the surface.

Worst I'd guess is the 1930s, though really any non-Civil/Revolutionary War decade prior to 1900 could probably qualify.

[pokerdirty]

worst 1860s, best 1990s?

As a history grad (although I didn't take many more than the required courses in American history):

Worst decade: 1900s. It's post reconstruction and pre-WW1. Resconstruction isn't terribly exciting but there's more than enough "to it" that you could study it for two months and not be bored out of your mind. I think the 1900s is just an incredibly anemic decade - between two eras and no one really cares about it compared to most of the others.

Best: the 1960s is an easy choice here (JFK, Vietnam, hippies, etc.) but it's almost everyones favorite decade and it's way overstudied. Let's go with the 1920s - you have a lot of economic prosperity, the end to the most retarded law in american history (prohibition) and reasonbly strong parallels between "corporate power" that you see in today's society. You can also theorize how the economic conditions in the 20s potentially lead to the problems in the 30s and 40s. Culturally it's at the beginning of cinema and big bands and there's some interesting stuff there. The 60s is so often studied that I think the 20s would be more interesting to study for two straight months hardcore. You can't go wrong with either though.

A couple asides: the 40s is not that interesting - we're talking about American history keep in mind. I think the 30s/40s would be more interesting from a global perspective; keep in mind the depression was a worldwide thing, and analyzing different approaches to it would keep you busy for a while. Also, the early 1800s isn't as boring as most people think, and I thought about being really different and suggesting one of those decades.

-dustyn

[RacersEdge]

OP, your post title implies picking a decade based on goodness/badness. But you pose it as a research project. If it's a research project, I would pick a decade a I knew the least about - say the 1880s.

[jstnrgrs]

The best is the 1860s (not even close IMO). I think that you are right that the worst is the 1880s.