The 20th Century: What's Worth Saving?

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Hot Running Water
Most urban Americans had running water in their dwellings by 1900, but soothing, sensuous, steaming water--at the turn of a tap--had to wait until the 1930s, when the first inexpensive, free-standing water heater was introduced. Things got even better for all us hydro-hedonists in 1968, with the advent of the Jacuzzi whirlpool bath; if you don't have one at home, there's always the Y or a bed-and-breakfast.

Human Rights
In a century in which slavery was still legal until 1962 in Saudi Arabia (and is still tolerated in Mauritania, North Africa), and an outright white supremacist government ruled until 1994 in South Africa, the campaign for basic human rights is surprisingly young. Bolstered by the 1948 United Nations Universal Declaration on Human Rights and abetted by global organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, activists continue to stand up to tyranny in courageous ways.

Ice Cream Cones
Arnold Fornachou operated an ice cream stand at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. Legend has it that he ran out of dishes and turned to a neighboring pastry stand for help. When proprietor Ernest Hamwi, a Syrian immigrant, offered a rolled-up Persian wafer, a joyous summertime treat--and an ecological breakthrough: edible packaging--was born.

Internet
At least taxpayers got one thing in return for the trillions sunk into the Pentagon: the Internet, born in 1969 as ARPANET, a decentralized military communications system that worked even when parts of it were destroyed. Created by computer firm Bolt, Beranek, and Neumann in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the system had 15 sets of computers online by 1971, and 37 by 1973. But in 1983, the system converted to Transport Control Protocols--developed by European scientists to share research electronically despite incompatible operating systems--and laid the foundation for the Internet as we know it. Five years later, 60,000 computers were plugged in; today millions of civilians have global access to uncensored, nearly instant, and almost-free information.

Kansas City Jazz
A wide-open town in a region where people took Prohibition seriously, Kansas City in the 1930s boasted scores of rollicking nightclubs where jazz players blended swing with blues to create a jumpin' new beat. The Count Basie (right) Band burst onto the national scene in 1937, quickly followed by Jay McShann, Mary Lou Williams, and, later, Lester Young and Charlie Parker. K.C. jazz helped a generation of white fans connect their ears and minds to their feet and souls, and it still stands as an invigorating in-vitation to get up and dance.

Liberation Theology
Though the term refers most specifically to currents in Latin America that led Catholics to join movements for social justice and political freedom (outlined in Peruvian priest Gustavo Gutierrez's 1971 work, A Theology of Liberation), religion's potential for sparking progressive social change is a worldwide phenomenon. Poland's Solidarity movement found inspiration in Pope John Paul II's 1978 election, and the movement that toppled East Germany's communist regime had deep roots in Lutheran prayer meetings. During the Vietnam War, Thich Nhat Hanh led a group of nonpartisan Buddhists committed to helping the war's victims and coined the term "engaged Buddhism, " which has inspired a new, politically engaged spirit among Buddhists both East and West.

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