For the people of the United States as well as much of the rest of the world, the 1920s were in many ways a decade of change. Technological advances brought both conveniences and worries, while shifts in population and in values made some people feel freer and others more threatened. The field of arts—whether they were of the written, visual, or performing variety—was no different. Major changes came as writers, artists, and musicians explored new forms and made new kinds of statements. Their efforts created the huge surge of creativity that marks this period.

Some important themes of the 1920s stand out, including the development of modernism (a movement that broke with traditional methods and ideas); the work of the expatriates, who often explored U.S...