The title of one of the hit songs of 1921, "Ain't We Got Fun?!," puts into words the mood that dominated much of the decade called the Roaring Twenties. Although some citizens of the United States did not share in the good times, most benefited from the country's general economic prosperity. By and large, people had at least a little extra money in their pockets, and they also had a little more time to relax. These two factors combined to allow for an energetic pursuit of leisure that had never been seen before in the United States.

For the first two centuries of the nation's existence, the majority of people had to work very hard at the backbreaking, time-consuming tasks involved in building a new country. Hard work was, in fact, one of the core...