The Gilded Age is renowned for a variety of reasons. including its culture of conspicuous consumption among the newly rich. In the domain of food, conspicuous consumption manifested itself in appetites for expensive dishes and lavish dinner parties. These received ample publicity at the time, resulting later on in well-developed...
Do presidents matter for America's economic performance? This article reports several findings and hypotheses derived from a set of least likely cases, the Gilded Age presidents. These executives are often dismissed as weak and ineffective non‐entities. However, statistical data and qualitative evidence suggest that presidents do matter, even during the...
“The electric age was ushered into being in this last decade of the nineteenth century today when President Cleveland, by pressing a button, started the mighty machinery, rushing waters and revolving wheels in the World’s Columbian exhibition.” With this announcement about the official start of the Chicago World’s Fair in...
From the end of the nineteenth century through the first decades of the twentieth, the United States experienced unprecedented structural change. Advances in communication and manufacturing technology brought about a revolution for major industries such as railroads, coal, and steel. The still-growing nation established economic, political, and cultural entanglements with...
Wealthy lawyer Newland Archer (Daniel Day-Lewis) is engaged to sweet socialite May Welland (Winona Ryder) in 1870s New York. On the surface, it is a perfect match. But when May's beautiful cousin Countess Ellen Olenska (Michelle Pfeiffer), who is estranged from her brutish husband, arrives in town, Newland begins to...
A young woman entering 1882 New York City's rigid social scene is drawn into the daily conflicts surrounding the new money Russell family and the established van Rhijn-Brook family, who are neighbors across 61st Street near Fifth Avenue on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The series also shows conflicts...
A captivating novel set in 19th-century New York. It weaves together the stories of a golem brought to life by Jewish magic and a jinni released from an ancient flask. The book explores themes of identity, immigration, and the clash of cultures in a beautifully crafted narrative.
In her twenties, Belle da Costa Greene is hired by J. P. Morgan to curate a collection of rare manuscripts, books, and artwork for his newly built Pierpont Morgan Library. Belle becomes a fixture in New York City society and one of the most powerful people in the art and...
The Chinese Exclusion Act is a notable example of discriminatory immigration policies in U.S. history. It reflects the prevailing anti-immigrant sentiment of the time and...
The Homestead Strike was a major labor conflict that occurred in 1892 in Homestead, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. It was a pivotal event in American labor...
The Pullman Strike was a significant labor conflict that occurred in the United States in 1894. It was a major industrial strike involving the American...
The Spanish-American War was a conflict that took place in 1898 between the United States and Spain. It was primarily fought over issues involving Cuba,...