As deeply in love as I am becoming with the Gilded Age, it would be hard for me to dislike American Colossus . Brands' view of the era through the lens of capitalism allows him to give a very broad American history from Reconstruction until the turn of the century. Seemingly EVERYTHING is covered in some form in the book. Chapters range from Indian affairs to the Spanish-American War. While providing a very interesting history, I felt lost in other historiographies, at times. At other times, the connections made to capitalism are clear and often reiterated. Emphasis on the Pullman and Homestead labor riots have a lucid place in the book and their aftermath is reverberated throughout. The central characters of Jay Gould, the Rockefellers, Andrew Carnegie, and JP Morgan are key in the first chapters, lose their prominence in the bulk of the book, only to re-appear in its concluding chapters. Partisan shuffling over economic issues, such as the direction of the Republican party after Restoration or the the debate over bimetallism are well documented in the book. The author highlighted the confliction between capitalism and democracy and this contributed to adherence. Because of Brands' macro-historical approach (pushing the book to over 550 pages), the author's point could be that capitalism touched and sometimes tainted American history in this era, fashioning the US into the country we recognize. This I am okay with as I thoroughly enjoyed the walk through this leg of our history AND I learned quite a bit too.