Age of Betrayal is a brilliant reconsideration of America's first Gilded Age, when war-born dreams of freedom and democracy died of their im...
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reviews
Jan 23, 2010
David
rated it: 
Beatty's book is certainly combative enough and "passionate" enough to warrant some of the praise showered on it by media reviewers. But "passion" is too often a codeword for "bias," and congenial though Beattty's view of the Gilded Age may be, there is no denying its lopsidedness.
In his opening sentence Beatty throws down the gauntlet: "This book tells the saddest story,"he writes. "How, having redeemed democracy in the Civil War, A More...
Oct 21, 2011
David
rated it:
Beatty's focus is on tracking the transformation of the late 19th Century through an in-depth examination of key events and representative biographies that highlight the alliance between government and business, including the Supreme Court's infamous Santa Clara decision (effectively extending equal protection rights to corporations), the bloody suppression of the Homestead strike, and the rise (and fall) of the Populist movement. This is the story of "political capitalism": "gove
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Jul 14, 2009
Zack
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All those people chattering so much about "populist rage" these days need to read this book, a history of late 19th century populist uprising and related events. Then, as now, vigorous debate over substantive economic issues became watered down by the infusion into the political discourse of completely phony issues -- most notably the "currency question". Ultimately, whether the US used silver or gold as the standard for its currency didn't matter all that much. But the choic
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Jan 07, 2012
Jerry
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While I think this book had some really fascinating facts and analysis in it and helped to improve my knowledge of the time between 1865 and 1900 in the US, I almost feel that it would have been better served to have had its subject matter divided up into a few books. As a reader, I felt disoriented jumping from two chapters about the Supreme Court to two chapters about Tom Scott and the Pennsylvania Railroad to a chapter about Populism and so on and so forth. The transitions between topics were
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Apr 18, 2010
Bill
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I think the late 19th century is very interesting... especially compared to the current politics. This is a very liberal biased look at that time but, being very liberal, I found little that was amiss!
It was the gilded age - the time of the Robber Barons - the civil war was over and the United States were becoming the dominant power in the world....if not in military strength at least in economic reach.
Slavery had all but returned in the South with the death of Reconstru More...
It was the gilded age - the time of the Robber Barons - the civil war was over and the United States were becoming the dominant power in the world....if not in military strength at least in economic reach.
Slavery had all but returned in the South with the death of Reconstru More...
Mar 12, 2008
Erwin
rated it:
Jack Beatty's Age of Betrayal I have to say, was a thoroughly enjoyable and engrossing read. Mr. Beatty, who demonstrates his probity, erudition and understanding time and again on NPR's On Point, easily imports these virtues into writing. His is politically inflected historiography in the best sense, comparing favorably to Marxian British historians of previous generations like E. P. Thompson and Gareth Stedman Jones. For the author, what is past is incontrovertibly prelude, and his treatment o
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Aug 08, 2007
Michael
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Conservative historians like to complain that histories written with the present in mind results in bad history. This book proves that old saw to be, well, old. This book is a well written, carefully detailed (sometimes too detailed) and powerfully relevant history of the Gilded Age - the period of American history from the end of the Civil War to the Assassination of William McKinley. This was an era of unrestrained capitalist growth, the creation of huge personal fortunes (including John D. Ro
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Apr 24, 2009
Toothy_grin
rated it:
A most impressive piece of Gilded Age scholarship (The end notes are amazing.) conveyed in a dismal style of writing. Gratuitous over-usage of obscure words sent me to the dictionary too often, and numerous sentences took multiple readings to parse their meanings. That said, it's an important book on one of the crucial eras of American history: read it, but keep your dictionary at hand.
Dec 17, 2009
I knew nothing in detail of "standardized time" and the true impact of the rail system on our emerging economy and clas at the turn of the century. Beatty writes with a certain fluidity that makes this book less of a hisotry lesson and more like a travel guide through the preindustrialized U.S. I recommend it highly!
Mar 24, 2008
Paula
rated it:
Not an easy read (too many quotes, too much material to synthesize) but a most interesting look at the economic and political history of the "Gilded Age". It doesn't sound much different from the way things are today, unfortunately--entirely too much corporate influence.
Feb 06, 2012
Sean
rated it: 
Disorganized, ham-fisted, and supported by a poor use of source. Oh, and he gets lots of basic facts wrong. But hey, when you are part of the intellectual elite, you get a free pass to fail. What is true has become true on Wall Street is true in scholarship.
Mar 03, 2009
Christopher
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Great economic and political history of the Gilded Age. Highly relevant the present era.
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