“What is the chief end of man? -- to get rich. In what way? -- dishonestly if we can; honestly if we must.”
~ Mark Twain (1835-1910), American author |
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| Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America by Ari BermanFifty years ago, the Voting Rights Act (VRA) transformed election demographics in the United States. African Americans in the South began voting, running for office, and being elected for the first time since the Reconstruction period after the Civil War. In Give Us the Ballot, journalist Ari Berman compellingly details the VRA's history. He also describes the recent "counterrevolution" against the VRA, in which dozens of state legislatures have passed measures making it more difficult to register and vote. Including views from different sides of the debate on voting restrictions, he presents a balanced but still revealing report on a wide variety of measures that have the potential to influence election results. |
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| Our Man in Charleston: Britain's Secret Agent in the Civil War South by Christopher DickeyIn 1853, Robert Bunch, Britain's new consul, arrived in Charleston, S.C., which was central to the cotton trade that supplied textile mills in the U.K. Though Bunch despised slavery, his diplomatic assignment required him to maintain cordial relations with South Carolina's planters and businessmen while collecting information about their plans and transmitting it to the British government. In Our Man in Charleston, Daily Beast foreign editor Christopher Dickey clearly describes the profound effect that Bunch's intelligence reports had on British relations with Union and Confederate interests. Readers interested in diplomatic history or the Civil War will appreciate this riveting portrayal of Bunch's delicate high-wire act. |
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| The Orpheus Clock: The Search for My Family's Art Treasures Stolen by the Nazis by Simon GoodmanAuthor Simon Goodman was born in London and raised in the Church of England, having only a vague awareness of his Jewish heritage. After his father died, Goodman learned that his grandparents were part of a wealthy German banking family, and that the Nazis had murdered many of his family members and stolen their valuable collections. Learning about his father's fruitless quest to find the family's treasures and get them back, Simon took up the challenge of negotiating with museums, governments, and illicit dealers. The Orpheus Clock provides a fascinating account of these efforts. |
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| Avenue of Spies: A True Story of Terror, Espionage, and One American Family's... by Alex KershawIn Nazi-occupied Paris, on the exclusive Avenue Foch, the French Resistance operated under the very noses of Vichy collaborators and the Gestapo. One resident of the Avenue, American doctor Sumner Jackson, volunteered to assist the work of the French Resistance, helping wounded pilots escape from the hospital and passing messages from the Resistance in France to their counterparts in Britain. Drawing on written records and interviews with Sumner's son Phillip, author Alex Kershaw movingly portrays the atmosphere of fear in occupied Paris and the terrifying, disturbing events that unfolded as the war progressed. Avenue of Spies offers edge-of-your-seat reading about a little-known chapter of World War II. |
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| The Conquering Tide: War in the Pacific Islands, 1942-1944 by Ian W. TollIn The Conquering Tide, acclaimed historian Ian Toll chronicles the Allied counteroffensive against Japan from mid-1942 to mid-1944. This absorbing account includes compelling battle narratives, details of policy meetings, insight into rivalry among the military services, and personal reports from those who witnessed the events. The strategy and technological advances of the amphibious campaign come alive, along with the personalities of both American and Japanese leaders. This well researched and absorbing 2nd volume in Toll's Pacific War trilogy, following Pacific Crucible, provides irresistible reading about the Pacific theater in World War II. |
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Historians count the Gilded Age as beginning in 1865, 150 years ago, and ending early in the 20th century. These books provide informative and engaging views of the period.
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| American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900 by H.W. BrandsIn American Colossus, highly regarded historian H.W. Brands offers a social history of the Gilded Age focused on the rise of American capitalism. Covering the period from 1865 to the early 20th century, Brands profiles leading capitalists, details the country's geographical expansion, and highlights its widening economic inequalities. He illuminates Big Business' influence on developments such as the decimation of Native American populations, the establishment of Jim Crow, and the growth of labor-management conflicts. For those interested in the influence that large corporations exert on today's politics, Brands offers fascinating historical background. |
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| The Murder of the Century: The Gilded Age Crime That Scandalized a City and... by Paul CollinsLate in the Gilded Age, in 1897, parts of a body started showing up in locations around New York City. The police eventually built a case around the grisly remains that pointed to a sensational love triangle and created a bonanza for the newspapers of William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer. The Murder of the Century offers thrilling accounts of journalists competing with the police to solve the crime, a trial in which the defense claimed the supposed victim wasn't even dead, and vivid details of the period (including the stink of rats in the courtroom). True crime fans and aficionados of the Gilded Age shouldn't miss author Paul Collins' irresistible account combining both. |
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| Appetite for America: Fred Harvey and the Business of Civilizing the Wild West... by Stephen FriedThough the fare at Fred Harvey's train stop restaurants was several steps above that provided in the depot eateries, Harvey could be credited with inventing the chain restaurant concept long before Ray Kroc was born. In Appetite for America, award-winning journalist Stephen Fried relates the life of the immigrant entrepreneur who worked his way up from dishwasher to food service magnate, developed the first female work force in America, and inspired the 1946 movie The Harvey Girls. This vivid account of Harvey's life and his influence on America's westward expansion serves up a delicious slice of Gilded Age Americana. |
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| The Scarlet Sisters: Sex, Suffrage, and Scandal in the Gilded Age by Myra MacPhersonIn their activities that sound like feminist initiatives of a century later, sisters Victoria Woodhull and Tennessee "Tennie" Claflin shocked and fascinated Gilded Age America and the world: together they opened the first woman-owned stock brokerage; Victoria ran for president, choosing Frederick Douglass to join her ticket; Tennie ran for Congress and became the honorary colonel of a black National Guard regiment. They also published a newspaper and exposed prominent citizens' misdeeds through their investigative reporting. In The Scarlet Sisters, journalist Myra MacPherson vividly portrays their campaigns to improve the status of women. Whether you're interested in women's history or avid for details of American life in the Victorian age, don't miss this well researched and engaging dual biography. |
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| Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America by Richard WhiteTouted as the 19th century's most significant and ambitious technological achievement, America's transcontinental railroads also created unprecedented profiteering, federal corruption, and the exploitation of an economically vulnerable workforce. Needless competitive overbuilding inevitably drove the railway companies into bankruptcy one by one, but railroad owners stayed rich on generous U.S. government subsidies (and paid investors with stolen workers' wages). By 1893, the whole bloated mess sparked a series of bank failures that pitched the nation into the greatest financial panic it had ever seen. Hop aboard Railroaded for a "scathing and wonderful" (The Boston Globe) railway history laced with Gilded Age sleaze and up-to-the-minute economic relevance. |
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