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Mark Twain coined the "Gilded Age" for a period of growth and extravagance, experienced most dramatically in New York City, from the 1870s to 1910. In 40 short years, the city suddenly became a metropolis of skyscrapers, subways, streetlights, and sprawling bridges that connected the once-distant boroughs. In Manhattan, more than a million poor immigrants crammed into tenements, while half of the millionaires in the entire country lined Fifth Avenue with their opulent mansions.
The Gilded Age in New York City covers daily life for the rich, the poor, and the burgeoning middle class; the colorful and energetic entrepreneurs known as both “captains of industry” and “robber barons” including John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Leland Stanford, and J.P. Morgan; the opulence and excess of the new wealthy class; the influx of immigrants which caused the city's population to quadruple in 40 years; how new-found leisure time was spent in places such as Coney Island and Central Park; crimes that shocked the city and altered the police force; the rise of social services; and the city's physical growth both skyward and outward toward the five boroughs.
With more than 300 illustrations and photographs (including images colorized specifically for this book) combined with firsthand accounts and fascinating details, The Gilded Age in New York presents a vivid tapestry of American society at the turn of the century.
Written by Esther Crain. Published by Black Dog & Levanthal in 2016. Hardcover, measures 12.3 x 9.5 x 1.1 inches, 304 pages. ISBN 9780316353663
