NeoClassic American Genre?

Over the past few weeks I've been toying with editing an American classic as a writing excercize. The idea is quite simple in that I simply adapt an older story to a more recent time and other location. It came as quite a surprise to suddenly find I had discovered that the period of American history from the early '20s to the late '50s is both highly romantisized but also represents a significant transition in lifestyle.

The beginning of period of time started with the automobile as still somewhat of a novalty, transportation was mostly accomplished by train or steamer, -the first transatlantic flight hadn't become a reality yet and the film industry was still in its infancy. Radio was becoming king and Americans still read.

By the end of the this 40 year period, not only were transatlantic flights taking a serious bite out of the steam industry, but Americans were beginning to look up as the space race was just winding up with the launch of Sputnik by the Soviets. Automobiles were becoming so common, they were becoming less of a status symbol and more of a necessity. Trains as public transportation were in decline. The end of this decade saw the all time low in horse ownership. The destructive force of WW I now paled at the awsome destructive potential of the atom bomb. Television was replacing radio as king and a generation of Americans was beginning to grow up without reading. The film industry was now well established and setting a precedent for the future.

But why is this period of time so unique? It seems to represent a sweep within one generation from a largly stationary society to a jet set. The beginning of that generation could still relate with the end of that generation, and remember when, though the lifestyle had been completely revolutionized. The generation before, though many changes had taken place, there was nothing that would really outpace a body. The generation that followed? One might just have well been born in a different century, by previous standards.