Publisher: Metropolitan Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 08/03/2010
ISBN-13: 9780805091410
ISBN-10: 0805091416

In his latest book, bestselling author, history professor, and retired Army colonel Andrew Bacevich challenges the idea that an American military presence abroad is necessary for the nation's security at home. Equally likely to stir debate is his argument that Washington's long-standing consensus on national security should change, and that the U.S.--which spends more on its armed forces than the rest of the world combined--needs to fix internal problems rather than use the military to fix perceived ones outside its borders. "An unsparing, cogent, and important critique of assumptions guiding American military policy," says Publishers Weekly.

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Publisher: Gotham Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 08/10/2010
ISBN-13: 9781592401420
ISBN-10: 1592401422

Each month in Philadelphia the Vidocq Society--an elite group of gifted investigators from several countries--comes together to solve cases brought to them by stumped detectives. The Society consists of coroners, profilers, forensic experts, detectives, and others; the cases are uniformly cold. Formed 20 years ago, the Society has consulted on more than 300 cases--and solved an impressive 90 percent of them. This intimate look into their efforts focuses on three aspects in particular--the challenging cases, the organization itself, and its three founders. True-crime fans won't be able to get enough of this "terrifying, engrossing, inspirational and surprisingly funny" (Kirkus Reviews) book.

Publisher: Viking
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 08/05/2010
ISBN-13: 9780670021970
ISBN-10: 0670021970

Immortalized by Bob Fosse's Broadway hit Chicago and later by the movie starring Renee Zellweger, the dozen-plus women who killed their lovers and husbands in Jazz Age Chicago fascinated the newspaper-reading public at the time. Two of the most photogenic--Belva Gaertner and Beulah Annan--are the focus of author Douglas Perry's examination of the culture of the era and the media's obsession with the Cook County jail's "Murderess' Row." Also key to the story is rookie journalist Maurine Watkins, who turned her disgust with the way the two women manipulated the all-male juries at their trials into a play that later became the basis of the hit musical. "Spellbinding," says Library Journal.

Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 08/29/2000
ISBN-13: 9780684846095
ISBN-10: 0684846098

You need a reliable transportation system before you can fully industrialize a nation, and the completion of America's transcontinental railroad in 1869 was the 19th-century technological achievement that fueled the Gilded Age. Acclaimed author Stephen Ambrose documents this accomplishment by focusing on the men of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads as they raced to link the eastern and western halves of the continent. From backbreaking drives into the sides of mountains to accidental deaths, Ambrose traces the triumphs and tragedies of the laborers--many of them immigrants--who made it happen. Publishers Weekly calls this engaging social history a "rough-and-tumble, triumphant saga." For more, David Bain's excellent Empire Express covers similar territory.

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Publisher: Random House
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 10/12/2004
ISBN-13: 9780375758843
ISBN-10: 0375758844

This riveting piece of scientific history recounts the race--among three great titans of the Gilded Age--to bring electricity to the world. Inventor Thomas Alva Edison, creator of the incandescent light bulb, promoted direct current (DC), while eccentric genius Nikola Tesla championed alternating current (AC). The third, entrepreneur and industrialist George Westinghouse, wanted to be the one who brought electricity to the masses. In Empires of Light, author Jill Jonnes documents their rivalries and PR wars and the slow process to electrify the U.S. in the final decades of the 19th century. For more on technological advances of the Gilded Age, try Jonnes' book on the building of Penn Station, Conquering Gotham.

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Publisher: Plume
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 06/26/2007
ISBN-13: 9780452288584
ISBN-10: 0452288584

You've probably heard the Astor name, but if you don't know why they're famous, this might be the book for you. Delivering a tale of social history and family rivalry--and relating the birth of the dual-natured Waldorf-Astoria hotel--Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Justin Kaplan traces the dramatic public and private lives of cousins William Waldorf Astor and John Jacob Astor IV. Multi-millionaires who pursued different goals (and didn't really get along), they nevertheless managed to leave a lasting mark on the social behavior of the wealthy during the Gilded Age. Anyone interested in 19th-century history or those who savor gossipy biographical tidbits of the rich and famous shouldn't miss this. For a heartbreaking update on the Astor family, try Meryl Gordon's Mrs. Astor Regrets.

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Publisher: Three Rivers Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 06/26/2007
ISBN-13: 9780307351456
ISBN-10: 0307351459

The dramatic but ultimately doomed romance between Archie Chanler, the troubled heir to the Astor fortune, and Amélie Rives, a beautiful but self-absorbed novelist, began in the heights of Gilded Age society, ended in madness, drug addiction, and divorce, and was fodder for many a newspaper article. Like something out of an imaginative novel, there were allegations of insanity, escapes from mental asylums, over-protective family members, and the spending of extravagant sums of money. It's possible too that the marriage was never consummated. But despite the titillating details, this is a sympathetic look at two damaged people and the colorful period they lived in.

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Publisher: Penguin Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 02/05/2009
ISBN-13: 9781594202001
ISBN-10: 1594202001

In 1888, Clarence King was a noted geologist and surveyor, part of a wealthy and well-established white New England family. But he was in love with Ada Copeland, a black nursemaid born into slavery living in Brooklyn. Because relationships across racial lines were strongly discouraged (and often illegal), the fair-haired, blue-eyed King passed himself off as a black Pullman porter named James Todd. He maintained this double life--Pullman porter and father of five at home, confirmed bachelor and geologist in the field--until his death in 1901, and only told his wife the truth by letter as he was dying. Readers interested in the racial politics of the Gilded Age may enjoy this "astounding true story" (The New York Times).

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Publisher: Three Rivers Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 06/06/2006
ISBN-13: 9781400047680
ISBN-10: 1400047684

You can't consider America's Gilded Age without taking a look at the burgeoning industrial economy that made it possible in the first place. And though they were often attacked as "robber barons," it's difficult to deny the role played by wealthy financiers and captains of industry. In Meet You in Hell, author Les Standiford takes a look at two of these founding fathers of American industry--Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick. Though their partnership was successful, it eventually dissolved in mutual dislike, helped along by the Homestead Steel Strike of 1892 and a bloody clash between labor and management. For more on the rise of corporations, try Jack Beatty's Age of Betrayal.

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