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Stories Set in the 20th century (1900–1999)
1900–1999 · worldwide, all places
Moving through time
Two world wars killed tens of millions and redrew every border, then the United States and the Soviet Union faced off in a Cold War fought through proxies, spies and the threat of nuclear weapons. Between and after the wars came decolonization, civil-rights movements, the Moon landing in 1969 and the spread of television.
World War II ended in 1945 and the Berlin Wall fell in 1989. The Godfather follows a New York crime family from 1945 into the mid-1950s, and Casablanca is set in Vichy-controlled Morocco in December 1941. Open the 20th century on the StoryTerra map and explore its stories by place.
10 famous stories set in the 20th century
Live snapshot of the top 10 most popular catalogue items (2026-09-05). Click any card to open this entry on the live map.
Browse 10,977 books, 24,452 movies, 499 TV shows and 866 games set in the 20th century (1900–1999).
The Godfather
Spanning the years 1945 to 1955 a chronicle of the fictional Italian-American Corleone crime family. When organized crime family patriarch Vito Corleone barely survives an attempt on his life his youngest son Michael…
The Shawshank Redemption
Framed in the 1940s for the double murder of his wife and her lover upstanding banker Andy Dufresne begins a new life at the Shawshank prison where he puts his accounting skills to work for an amoral warden. During his…
Pulp Fiction
A burger-loving hit man his philosophical partner a drug-addled gangster's moll and a washed-up boxer converge in this sprawling comedic crime caper. Their adventures unfurl in three stories that ingeniously trip back…
Fight Club
A ticking-time-bomb insomniac and a slippery soap salesman channel primal male aggression into a shocking new form of therapy. Their concept catches on with underground "fight clubs" forming in every town until an…
Back to the Future
Eighties teenager Marty McFly is accidentally sent back in time to 1955 inadvertently disrupting his parents' first meeting and attracting his mother's romantic interest. Marty must repair the damage to history by…
Joker
During the 1980s a failed stand-up comedian is driven insane and turns to a life of crime and chaos in Gotham City while becoming an infamous psychopathic crime figure.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Harry Potter has lived under the stairs at his aunt and uncle's house his whole life. But on his 11th birthday he learns he's a powerful wizard—with a place waiting for him at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and…
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Year three at Hogwarts means new fun and challenges as Harry learns the delicate art of approaching a Hippogriff transforming shape-shifting Boggarts into hilarity and even turning back time. But the term also brings…
The Green Mile
A supernatural tale set on death row in a Southern prison where gentle giant John Coffey possesses the mysterious power to heal people's ailments. When the cell block's head guard Paul Edgecomb recognizes Coffey's…
The Godfather Part II
In the continuing saga of the Corleone crime family a young Vito Corleone grows up in Sicily and in 1910s New York. In the 1950s Michael Corleone attempts to expand the family business into Las Vegas Hollywood and Cuba.
The 10 stories above are just a sample of the 36,794 in the catalogue for this entry. For the live 1900–1999 catalogue, use the button above — or browse each decade below. On the live map you can also filter by the exact time the stories take place — any year, decade or century, from BCE to the future.