Enjoying Julian Fellowe’s HBO original drama series, The Gilded Age?
If you’re interested the times and social milieu of this era, check out this booklist!
The American Gilded Age was a period of immense economic change, of great conflict between the old ways and brand new systems, and of huge fortunes made and lost.
All of the titles featured here in this booklist are available in our catalog. To see if an item is available to check out or place on hold, click the cover image or button to the right of the description.
What Would Mrs. Astor Do? The Essential Guide to Manners and Mores of the Gilded Age
by Cecilia Tichi
A beautifully illustrated tour of the Gilded Age, transporting readers to New York at its most fashionable. A colorful tapestry of fun facts and true tales presenting a vivid portrait of this remarkable time of social metamorphosis.
The Gilded Age: 1876-1912 — Overture to the American Century
by Alan Axelrod
The Gilded Age–the name coined by Mark Twain to refer to the period of rapid economic growth in America between the 1870s and 1900–offers some intriguing parallels to our own time. As, truly, the overture of the ‘American Century, the author also looks at how it presaged our current time, which many are calling the “Second Gilded Age.” Photographs, political cartoons, engravings, news clippings, help bring this fascinating period into focus.
An American Princess: The Many Lives of Allene Tew
by Annejet van der Zijl
Born to a pioneering family in Upstate New York in the late 1800s, Allene Tew was beautiful, impetuous, and frustrated by the confines of her small hometown. At eighteen, she met Tod Hostetter at a local dance, heir to one of the wealthiest families in America. From the vantage point of the American upper class, Allene embodied the tumultuous Gilded Age. And from the hopes of a young girl from Jamestown, New York, Allene Tew would become the epitome of both a pursuer and survivor of the American Dream.
The Last Castle: The Epic Story of Love, Loss, and American Royalty in the Nation's Largest Home
by Denise Kiernan
The fascinating true story behind the magnificent Gilded Age mansion Biltmore–the largest, grandest residence ever built in the United States by railroad/shipping magnate George Vanderbilt.
The Husband Hunters: American Heiresses Who Married Into the British Aristocracy
by Anne de Courcy
A deliciously told group biography of the young, rich, American heiresses who crossed The Pond and married into the impoverished British aristocracy at the turn of the twentieth century.
Gilded: How Newport Became America’s Richest Resort
by Deborah Davis
Gilded takes you along as you explore the fascinating heritage of the Newport elite, from its first gilded residents the Astors, the Vanderbilts, Edith Wharton and others to the newest of its new millennium millionaires in a narrative filled with colorful characters and lively tales.
Want more recommendations?
You can check out all of our online booklists (for kids and for adults), or reach out to us! Our staff is ready and willing to make reading, listening, or viewing recommendations to you! Email us at reference@benlib.org or contact us via our online form!