The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (Penguin Classics)

Rating:
Summary: Let's Do A Deal
Review: "The Gilded Age" is a story of corruption and get-rich-quick schemes in the USA after the Civil War. The fulcrum of the book is the Hawkins family, and in particular Laura - a Washington lobbyist whose personal life is deeply flawed. But beyond the Hawkins family, Twain and Warner introduce a cast of characters all of whom have a stake in the expanding US economy (through more or less shady dealing) or in the deep corruption of the political system. It is as if the whole economy was one great poker game, with most of the players cheating shamelessly.

At times "The Gilded Age" is a very uneven novel, perhaps to be expected in a collaborative work. The early chapters especially have a very disjointed feel: time and location leap about too much, the narrative creaks. It was as if the authors had not yet sorted out who the main characters were to be, nor where the majority of the action was to take place. Indeed, as the novel develops, the main scene changes from the mid-West to Washington DC. Once this shift has taken place, the novel becomes more settled, with more scope for satire and character development.

How effective is the novel? Well, many of the references and allusions have lost their impact due to the passage of time, and the limitations of the collaborative nature of the book (as mentioned above) limit rather than help. I prefer Gore Vidal's "American Saga" novels, but in its favour "The Gilded Age" (perhaps due to its proximity to events) does have a feel of authenticity, and does provide another warning that pursuit of money and personal gain to the exclusion of other societal values is highly damaging.

G Rodgers

Rating:
Summary: Let's Do A Deal
Review: "The Gilded Age" is a story of corruption and get-rich-quick schemes in the USA after the Civil War. The fulcrum of the book is the Hawkins family, and in particular Laura - a Washington lobbyist whose personal life is deeply flawed. But beyond the Hawkins family, Twain and Warner introduce a cast of characters all of whom have a stake in the expanding US economy (through more or less shady dealing) or in the deep corruption of the political system. It is as if the whole economy was one great poker game, with most of the players cheating shamelessly.

At times "The Gilded Age" is a very uneven novel, perhaps to be expected in a collaborative work. The early chapters especially have a very disjointed feel: time and location leap about too much, the narrative creaks. It was as if the authors had not yet sorted out who the main characters were to be, nor where the majority of the action was to take place. Indeed, as the novel develops, the main scene changes from the mid-West to Washington DC. Once this shift has taken place, the novel becomes more settled, with more scope for satire and character development.

How effective is the novel? Well, many of the references and allusions have lost their impact due to the passage of time, and the limitations of the collaborative nature of the book (as mentioned above) limit rather than help. I prefer Gore Vidal's "American Saga" novels, but in its favour "The Gilded Age" (perhaps due to its proximity to events) does have a feel of authenticity, and does provide another warning that pursuit of money and personal gain to the exclusion of other societal values is highly damaging.

G Rodgers

Rating:
Summary: I liked it more than Huck Finn
Review: Moving stuff at the start, very funny in spots, and heartily American. The end wasn't all I'd hope for but there is still good stuff up till the end which is hard to do in any book. Like I said in the title, I liked it better than Huck Finn because Huck Finn is more of the kitchy journey story which is too easy whereas this one is not a road trip but a full fleshed tale.

Rating:
Summary: A Tale of Today
Review: The literary criticism you can get from the Oxford edition (check your local library); the commentary is thorough (which parts did Twain write? which parts Warner?) and informative. My reasons for recommending this book have nothing to do with its literary value (spotty) and everything to do with its subtitle. Every now and then an old book teaches us that much of what we take to be modern and sophisticated is truly old hat. One of the best descriptions of the Cold War was written by Thucydides, and one of the best depictions of the go go dot.com economy was written by Twain. Substitute web sites for depots and bandwidth for rails and the conversations in this book could have been overhead on cel phones in San Jose. IPO's and bubbles are not twenty-first century innovations: as Twain shows us,it may be possible to get rich from hard work, but it's more tempting to get rich by looting the pockets of the uninformed. Senator Dilworthy's dedication to pork evokes Byrd, and we learn lecherous behavior in Congress didn't start with Condit. An entertaining validation of Ecclesiates: there truly is nothing new under the sun.

Rating:
Summary: Greed
Review: The post-Civil War years were a time of rapid industrialization in America, aided and abetted by burgeoning plans to build a transcontinental railroad. Many people saw an opportunity to get a piece of the action, to speculate with family savings, the little that there were, in hopes of making millions of dollars in return. Investing in coal mining was one example. It is against this background that _The Gilded Age_ takes place.

Many in Congress saw an opportunity to support various projects that were supposedly for the public good, e.g. building a university for the newly freed slaves upon land, located in Tenneesee, bequeathed by a family patriarch to his children. These schemes were also meant to line many people's pockets. The novel's Senator Dilworthy supports various liberal causes and "family values," i.e. Sunday school education, but is also thoroughly corrupt.

_The Gilded Age_ is meant to be a morality tale where everyone receives his just deserts: the evil or those just plain greedy are punished, including a vengence seeking young woman deeply wronged by her married lover, and the good and the conscientious are rewarded. While the book occasionally gets bogged down in the scandalous details of this young woman's love life, _The Gilded Age_ is often an interesting, lively and educational glance into the manners of 1870s America.

Rating:
Summary: Greed
Review: The post-Civil War years were a time of rapid industrialization in America, aided and abetted by burgeoning plans to build a transcontinental railroad. Many people saw an opportunity to get a piece of the action, to speculate with family savings, the little that there were, in hopes of making millions of dollars in return. Investing in coal mining was one example. It is against this background that _The Gilded Age_ takes place.

Many in Congress saw an opportunity to support various projects that were supposedly for the public good, e.g. building a university for the newly freed slaves upon land, located in Tenneesee, bequeathed by a family patriarch to his children. These schemes were also meant to line many people's pockets. The novel's Senator Dilworthy supports various liberal causes and "family values," i.e. Sunday school education, but is also thoroughly corrupt.

_The Gilded Age_ is meant to be a morality tale where everyone receives his just deserts: the evil or those just plain greedy are punished, including a vengence seeking young woman deeply wronged by her married lover, and the good and the conscientious are rewarded. While the book occasionally gets bogged down in the scandalous details of this young woman's love life, _The Gilded Age_ is often an interesting, lively and educational glance into the manners of 1870s America.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent read.
Review: This book, written by Twain and Warner, pokes fun at American society during what they called "the guilded age". This term has stuck and is often used by historians to describe the period 1877-1914. Twain and Warner see this time as one where men care only for money. These men will not work hard, but merely scheme and plot in order to strike it rich. The dialogue in the book is very snappy, the best being when Laura Hawkins arrives in Washington, DC and meets with the other high society ladies. I would recommend this book to anybody interested in United States History, or just those who want to read a good novel. The book can drag at times, but overall is very engrossing.