Flappers: Six Women of a Dangerous Generation

I really enjoyed this book. Going into it I knew little about any of the women. I'd previously read some about Zelda Fitzgerald and Diana (Manners) Cooper, and recognized Tamara de Lempicka's paintings, but that was about it. This book expanded on the little I knew, and gave me great starting points on the other women.

Flappers covers the lives of Diana Manners Cooper, Nancy Cunard, Tamara de Lempicka, Tallulah Bankhead, Zelda Fitzgerald, and Josephine Baker. Mackrell has two chapters on each woman, one each in the first half and second half of the book. We learn about the woman's early life, how/why they became famous or infamous, and what happened to them afterwards. Many of the women had fairly sad lives after the 20s, it seemed, never being able to live up to or shed their image of the Flapper in the 20s. What was fun and appealing in the 20s was less so after the Depression hit and the world moved towards war again. The only woman who came out seeming to have had an overall happy life was Diana; the others all were eclipsed by who they had been.

This is a great jumping off point to learning more about both the women covered and the times in which they lived.