*The Great Gatsby* is a novel by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. First published on April 10, 1925, the story is set in New York and Long Island during the summer of 1922 and serves as a critique of the "American Dream."

The novel reflects the chaos following World War I, with American society experiencing unprecedented prosperity during the 1920s, mirrored by the booming economy.

Simultaneously, the prohibition of alcohol production and consumption, mandated by the 18th Amendment, created many wealthy individuals outside the legitimate market and led to a rise in organized crime.

Although Fitzgerald, like the narrator Nick Carraway, admires the wealth and glamour of the time, he was disillusioned by the era’s boundless materialism and lack of morals, which brought a certain decadence.

*The Great Gatsby* was not initially popular, selling fewer than 25,000 copies in the remaining 15 years of Fitzgerald's life.

Though it was adapted into a Broadway play and a Hollywood film within a year of publication, the novel was largely forgotten during the Great Depression and World War II.

Later, in 1945 and 1953, it was republished and rapidly gained popularity, finding a large readership and is now often considered the Great American Novel and a literary classic.

Today, *The Great Gatsby* is a standard text in higher education institutions worldwide that study American literature.

The novel ranks second on the list of the 100 best novels of the 20th century.