Often referred to as the 'Gilded Age', the period spanning from 1870 to 1900 encompassed both extravagant wealth and dire poverty in America. Due to this disparity, political agitators and reformists armed with socialist and anarchist manifestos flourished and the distinction between urban life and rural life grew increasingly sharper, creating an entirely new set of living conditions and social customs.
America stands at a dramatic crossroads: Massive banks and corporations wield disturbing power. The huge income gap between the 1% and the other 99% grows visibly wider. Astounding new technologies are changing American lives. Conflicts over U.S. military interventionism, the environment, and immigration dominate public debate. Sound familiar? You might be surprised to know that these headlines were ripped, not from today’s newspaper, but from newspapers over 100 years ago. These and other issues that characterize the early 21st century were also the hallmarks of the transformative periods known as the Gilded Age (1865-1900) and the Progressive Era (1900-1920).
EVERY DISASTER HAS A STORY, none more thrilling this one. Set during the great San Francisco earthquake and fire, this page-turning tale of political corruption, vendettas, romance, and rescue-and-murder, is based on recently uncovered facts that will forever change our understanding of what really happened. Told by Annalisa Passarella, a feisty young reporter, the novel paints a vivid picture of life in the post-Victorian city, from the gilded ballrooms of Nob Hill to the seedy bars of the Barbary Coast; from the slave ships in the bay, to the front row seats of Enriso Caruso's sold out performance.
The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today Volumes I-II by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner
Added by: arcadius | Karma: 2802.10 | Fiction literature | 18 February 2011
12
Mark Twain was the pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), an American author and humorist. Twain is most noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which has since been called the Great American Novel and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. The term "Gilded Age" was coined by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner in their 1873 book, The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today. Reuploaded Thanks to arcadius
Perce Spender, a working-class Londoner, is unexpectedly transformed into the twelfth Earl of Ellesmere when a distant relative dies. But he would rather be warming a bar stool in his local pub, and he's taken up residence at Chetton Hall only until arrangements can be made to sell it. Getting rid of the family estate displeases at least one of Perce's greedy offspring, however, and on the morning after a family party the new Earl is found dead.