The twenties were the year when drinking was against the law , was a bad joke because everyone knew of a local bar where liquor could be had . they were the the years when organized crime ruled the cities, and the police seemed powerless to do anyting against it . Classical music was forotten while jazz spread throughout the land, and men like Bix Beiderbecke, Louis Armstrong ,nad count Basie became the heroes of the the young. The flapper was born in the in the twenties, and with her bobed hair and short skirts, she symbolized perhaps more than anyone or anyting else, America's break with the past. from kathleen yancey, English 102 Supplemental Guide 1989 : 25