The Gilded Age
Post-bellum prosperity period
The Gilded Age refers to the period in American history from roughly 1870 to 1900, marked by rapid industrialization, extreme wealth inequality, and political corruption.
The term, coined by Mark Twain, suggests something that appears golden on the surface but conceals baser material underneath—glittering prosperity masking social problems.
The robber barons of the Gilded Age built vast fortunes while workers toiled in dangerous conditions.
- RockefellerIndustrial dynasty surname
- Standard OilHistoric petroleum monopoly
- CarnegieGilded Age industrialist
- VanderbiltAmerican industrial dynasty
- robber baronsExploitative nineteenth-century capitalists
captains of industry · tycoons · mansions · railroads · industrialization · wealth · corruption · Tammany · smoke-filled rooms · monopoly · trusts · opulence · Newport · ballrooms · fortunes · rags to riches · steel · oil
- TV showsTV shows, sitcom, The Office, cartoon, Modern Family
- HBO ShowsThe Sopranos, The Wire, Game of Thrones, True Detective, Westworld
- high societygossip, socialites, socialite, aristocrats, aristocrat
- Mark TwainSamuel Clemens, pen name, pseudonym, Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn
- period dramaperiod costumes, costume drama, Victorian era, period piece, Edwardian era
- Gilded Age LiteratureMark Twain, Henry James, Edith Wharton, Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer