Life — October 15, 1925 — page 5: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Life" Magazine Page Analysis This page contains two distinct sections: **"The Revert" story** (upper text) describes a bootlegger in New York who reinvents himself multiple times—attempting various legitimate businesses (orange groves, oil leases, real estate) before returning to bootlegging, finding it the only profession where he can claim to be "doing the Right Thing." This satirizes Prohibition-era hypocrisy: bootlegging was illegal yet morally rebranded by its practitioners. **"Attica" dialogue** and illustration below depict 1890s bicycle culture. The cartoon shows a woman enthusiastically taking up the bicycle "craze"—a major social phenomenon of that decade. The caption notes this was a "familiar scene" on city streets, suggesting the bicycle's popularity among women was notable enough to warrant satirical commentary on gender and modern recreation. Both sections mock contemporary social phenomena with gentle irony.