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The Gilded Age

Mark Twain,

Charles Dudley Warner

3.55 · Rating details · 1,221 ratings · 153 reviews

Arguably the first major American novel to satirize the political milieu of Washington, D.C. and the wild speculation schemes that exploded across the nation in the years that followed the Civil War, The Gilded Age gave this remarkable era its name. Co-written by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner, this rollicking novel is rife with unscrupulous politicians, colorful plu ...more

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Paperback, 528 pages

Published March 14th 2006 by Modern Library (first published 1873)

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Apr 03, 2014 Jim rated it really liked it

Shelves: american-literature, fiction, american-west

I had always wanted to read this book, thinking it was a different sort of novel, perhaps from the point of the wealthy. Also, I had no idea that The Gilded Age was such a serious work. Oh, Mark Twain's humor comes across frequently, especially in the sections taking place in Washington. Unfortunately, Twain had a co-author: the book is signed by both Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warren, his friend.

Twain wrote the first eleven chapters, which were brilliant at times, but the story began to sag I had always wanted to read this book, thinking it was a different sort of novel, perhaps from the point of the wealthy. Also, I had no idea that The Gilded Age was such a serious work. Oh, Mark Twain's humor comes across frequently, especially in the sections taking place in Washington. Unfortunately, Twain had a co-author: the book is signed by both Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warren, his friend.

Twain wrote the first eleven chapters, which were brilliant at times, but the story began to sag when Warren took over. Gradually, the book improved; but it was never too difficult to tell when Warren was the sole author.

The Gilded Age is a tale of the American dream of entrepreneurship. Everyone wants to speculate, to go for the quick kill. What usually winds up getting "killed," however, are their own prospects and those of the people who love them. Perhaps the book's signature character is "Colonel" Beriah Sellers (notice those initials: B.S.), who is an insatiable dreamer around whom much of the plot revolves. Curiously, although virtually everything he undertakes fails, he receives sympathetic treatment because he is basically a nice guy who, himself, is caught up in his impossible dreams:

As may be readily believed, Col. Beriah Sellers was by this time one of the best known men in Washington. For the first time in his life his talents had a fair field.

He was now at the centre of the manufacture of gigantic schemes, of speculations of all sorts, of political and social gossip. The atmosphere was full of little and big rumors and of vast, undefined expectations. Everybody was in haste, too, to push on his private plan, and feverish in his haste, as if in constant apprehension that tomorrow would be Judgment Day. Work while Congress is in session, said the uneasy spirit, for in the recess there is no work and no device.

It is this feverishness which is at the heart of The Gilded Age.

For all the ignes fatui, however, there is only one uccess in the novel, and it comes at the very end, when it is almost too late.

For Mark Twain's participation in this novel, I would give it five stars, but Warner lowers it to four. It's not that he is so bad: It's just that he is so far from Twain. ...more

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Dec 28, 2012 Collier Brown rated it really liked it

Shelves: home-inventory

I am a huge fan of those novels that satirize the American business man, and we have had a few masters of this genre within the last couple centuries--one of whom only recently passed away, Evan S. Connell. If you haven't read the Mr. and Mrs. Bridge novels, you must!!! They are masterpieces! I am thinking too of Sinclair Lewis's Babbitt, Sloan Wilson's The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit,and William Dean Howells's The Rise of Silas Lapham. All stand in the company of Mark Twain's The Gilded Age.

T I am a huge fan of those novels that satirize the American business man, and we have had a few masters of this genre within the last couple centuries--one of whom only recently passed away, Evan S. Connell. If you haven't read the Mr. and Mrs. Bridge novels, you must!!! They are masterpieces! I am thinking too of Sinclair Lewis's Babbitt, Sloan Wilson's The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit,and William Dean Howells's The Rise of Silas Lapham. All stand in the company of Mark Twain's The Gilded Age.

The Gilded Age refers to the few decades after the Civil War when American business magnates indulged in fanatical--no, maniacal--industrialization. Railroad, oil, and various mining monopolies stripped farmers of their land, enslaved their employees, and bribed the government outright for its continued domination. Families everywhere fell prey to corporate fraud, illegitimate investments, and credit traps. And all the while, government fat cats sat pretty in their Washington suites, buying up more land and swindling ma and pa out of their meager savings.

Old news, you might say. And I have to admit that if you prize novelty over the historically uncanny, you may find this novel (and others like it) a snooze. But what remains valuable about writers like Lewis and Howells is the perennial freshness of their critiques. Lots of things change in a nation whose construct is an impossibly intricate mosaic of difference. But when you read a novel like The Gilded Age, you think, my god, this has been going on since America's beginnings--what those people way back then felt and experienced, I feel and experience too. And there's power in that connection.

AND if you're a fan of Twain, then this is an important novel to read because it's his first. Actually, he co-wrote it with Charles Dudley Warren (not nearly as talented as Twain--not even in the same universe!) on a bet. Though both men had written essays, travelogues, and other journalistic reports, neither had written a novel. And since they were constantly criticizing novels that their wives enjoyed, they were challenged to write something better. Challenge accepted! They threw this beast together in no time. And to have an entire era named after your first novel--well, that's not too bad. ...more

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Mar 04, 2010 Joe Soler rated it it was amazing

This is the first book I assigned in my Modern Novels class because it set the stage for the period of self-proclaimed Modernity by exposing the seedy underbelly behind American "Progress." This is also Mark Twain's first novel which is clear because he has not quite mastered narrative and structure. The book drags a bit at times, but also displays the wit and incisive observation that made Twain a national treasure. The Gilded Age recounts the profound and quite recognizable corruption of the l ...more

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Jun 15, 2015 Christiane rated it it was ok

Shelves: mark-twain

In this book Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner heap scathing criticism on the US congress, the justice system , the press and society in general..
It’s a tale of greed, corruption, influence peddling, lobbying, vote buying, seat buying, bribery, blackmail, hypocrisy, etc. etc. In this aspect this satire is as relevant today as it was then.

Another topic are the big dreams of vast and easy riches harboured by men disinclined to work for them, epitomized by the self-satisfied kind-hearted windbag ...more

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Nov 13, 2011 Wanda rated it really liked it

Another treasure discovered at a library buck-a-bag sale. The characters are well drawn, the prose is not turgid...and...not a lot has changed in human affairs in a century and a half.
Sure, it's about politics, corruption, greed, business speculation and credit bubbles, so a main point about reading it is seeing how little anything has changed. But everybody already knows that, human nature being what it is.
Nonetheless, one takes pause when stumbling across lines such as, "She did not know how Another treasure discovered at a library buck-a-bag sale. The characters are well drawn, the prose is not turgid...and...not a lot has changed in human affairs in a century and a half.
Sure, it's about politics, corruption, greed, business speculation and credit bubbles, so a main point about reading it is seeing how little anything has changed. But everybody already knows that, human nature being what it is.
Nonetheless, one takes pause when stumbling across lines such as, "She did not know how much of the business prosperity of the world is only a bubble of credit and speculation, one scheme helping to float another which is no better than it, and the whole liable to come to naught and confusion when some accident produces a sudden panic."
How could we keep screwing it up--not year after year but century after century?
For me, though, as with reading all novels from the long ago, what I get most from it is the feel of what it was like to be alive in those days, and this book delivers. There are striking descriptive passages, that must have been written by co-author Charles Dudley Warner because Twain just doesn't write like that. I know that at least two scenes are with me forever.
I know what it was like to take a night journey by train in c.1870, walk through the streets of residential Philadelphia, attend a courtroom trial in New York City (I even know what it smelled) like. I know about people's attitudes and points of view. And I know how long some things took to change, even though the misapprehension was clear.
Take women's rights--the problem summarized in two sentences that would take more than a century to untangle: "You men do not want women educated to do anything, to be able to earn an honest living by their own exertions. They are educated as if they were always to be petted and supported, and there was never to be any such thing as misfortune."
Even what we might now call "white-guilt liberalism," with government money being tapped for projects designed to uplift the poor "niggro," but are really get-rich schemes for the backers who don't care about anything but their own advancement, are pilloried.
Public works boondoggles--then canals, now high-speed rail--natural resources speculation, hypocritical religious hogwash, corrupt and corrupting lobbyists, a credulous public....
It's all the same! Nothing has changed! That's what I came away with.
Who knew?
Hah.
I liked the protagonist Laura Hawkins a lot. Her attitude to life was expressed when she said, "The world is against me. Well, let it be, let it. I am against it."
Yeah.
She also said that there could be no love without respect, and she would only despise a man who could content himself with someone like her. Sigh. I get that, too.
I could go on, but...better you should read the book.

...more

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Oct 02, 2012 Dave rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: literature, fiction, humor

It is not often that one gets to define an age, but that is precisely what Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner did with “The Gilded Age”. As Ward Just points out in his introduction, “The Gilded Age” is “the first (novel about Washington) of consequence in American writing.” The full title of the book is “The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today”, and it was published in 1873. Charles Warner was a good friend of Mark Twain and this is the only novel which Twain collaborated with another writer, and it w ...more

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Aug 15, 2012 Judi rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, recorded-books, re-reading, 12-11-16

Sigh. I shall ever be smitten by Mark Twain. If I were to have a fantasy dinner party he would definitely be a guest. (Along with Woody Allen) This book shattered any remaining illusions/delusions' I may have held regarding our noble democracy and dedication to ethics and principals in government - business. A very barbed satire indeed. Mark Twain's observations of The Gilded Age remain spot on today. I am off to crawl under my bed and wait for the Great Apocalypse. Trust no one.

Re-read Decembe ...more

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Dec 11, 2011 Jane rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, classic

What's scary is how much the Washington, DC of this 1873 novel has in common with Washington, DC today! ...more

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Jul 21, 2019 Sotiris Karaiskos rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics

In the United States, the era between the end of the civil war and the late 19th century was characterized by major social changes and rapid economic growth. Behind this facade, however, there were huge social problems and great political corruption. The writers describe this era with intense satirical mood and this description was so apt that the title of the book finally gave its name in this era. The truth, however, is that this fact gives value to this book and not its literary virtues.

Στις ...more

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Oct 13, 2018 Illiterate rated it liked it

“A comprehensive up-to-date textbook on American government. Suitable for use in colleges and high schools.” Professor A. Puff, Racket University.

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Jan 09, 2008 Mark Allen rated it liked it

Recommends it for: con-artists and their victims

The Gilded Age lent its name to the period of U.S. History from Grant's presidencies through the turn of the century. I read this book through the lens of "been there, done that" during the web-boom of the late 90s, early oughts.

All of the usual suspects are there: smooth talking confidence artists running scams proposed as "market speculations" in the parlance of the times, corrupt Congresscritters, the vulture capitalists of Wall Street (and Sand Hill Road), and the shifty dealers who paddle i The Gilded Age lent its name to the period of U.S. History from Grant's presidencies through the turn of the century. I read this book through the lens of "been there, done that" during the web-boom of the late 90s, early oughts.

All of the usual suspects are there: smooth talking confidence artists running scams proposed as "market speculations" in the parlance of the times, corrupt Congresscritters, the vulture capitalists of Wall Street (and Sand Hill Road), and the shifty dealers who paddle in the wake of such men.

There's only a handful of honest, diligent characters in the whole book and one right at the end who has a final epiphany about how if he'd just spent his life trying to pursue and honest living, he'd at least have something to show for it instead of a trail of misery and woe -- all told with a charming - and to be frank sometimes tiresome - 19th century melodrama, especially concerning the heart and nature of women.

As a historical document and portrait of the times it's wholly accurate and believable. The authors take pains to tell the reader that "this is not fiction, but a history."

I couldn't help but see the parallels between Mr. Bolton and Samuel Clemens. (Bolton is an extremely charitable man who constantly lends his money and his good name to scoundrels until it ruins him and his family financially.) Like Bolton, Clemens constantly engaged himself in various "get-rich-quick" schemes, and was forced several times to hit the lecture circuit and live abroad to escape from his creditors' demands.

I would love to read an updated version of this narrative. I can picture it now: a family from Kansas, university educated children, one working a menial job, the other with big ambitions to strike it rich in the new Silicon Valley goldfields of the end of the 20th century, one of the central female characters of the book ends of murdering a jilted lover of some prominence, is acquitted and instead of going on a lecture tour as in the Gilded Age, becomes a reality TV star and ends up with a daytime talk show. ...more

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Nov 26, 2017 Adam rated it it was ok

This books needs a good editor. There are elements of a good story here and the commentary on the politics of the time are somewhat enlightening, but Twain and his co-writer go off on tangents that neither progress the plot nor are very interesting. If you are a big Twain fan then by all means give it a shot; otherwise, you are in for a bit of a slog.

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Mar 11, 2019 Paul Frandano rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction-literary, political-science-govt-politics, literature, fiction-historical, government

Published in 1873, this is the novel that famously gave the era its name and then fell into the bin on “largely forgotten and seldom read.” In my opinion, however, The Gilded Age is significantly better than its earliest notices or its contemporary reputation. What I surmise will surprise readers today is the continuing relevance of the story, which is in parts a morality tale, a series of character studies that capture a range of relevant “types” who express various dimensions of the striving a Published in 1873, this is the novel that famously gave the era its name and then fell into the bin on “largely forgotten and seldom read.” In my opinion, however, The Gilded Age is significantly better than its earliest notices or its contemporary reputation. What I surmise will surprise readers today is the continuing relevance of the story, which is in parts a morality tale, a series of character studies that capture a range of relevant “types” who express various dimensions of the striving age, a snapshot of the burgeoning power of CAPITAL (and the railroads) at a very specific moment in American history, and a guide to the workings of the US Congress .c 1870s. The story Mark Twain and co-author Charles Dudley Warner unfold – along with the behaviors of their principal protagonists – should resonate among contemporary readers, who will recognize in these pages the differences between moral politicians and political moralists, the myriad hypocrisies of the political class then (and now), and the exertions of the politically and financially powerful haves to advance their own interests and relative might against the relative powerlessness of the striving have-nots.

Close readers will not fail to spot the vast gulf that separates the chapters and characters largely written in Mark Twain's supple, supernaturally observant, colorful prose from those of co-author Charles Dudley Warner’s generally leaden ponderousness. Some will find Warner's writing is something of a downside. Others will be annoyed by the lengthy forays into political and financial details that slow down the narrative pace (asides that I found useful touches that added veracity to the narrative..."these guys seem to know what they're talking about").

The edition I read, published in 1964 by the Trident Press and now out of print, contains an unusually helpful introduction by Mark Twain biographer and scholar Justin Kaplan, who lays out the factual basis that justifies the novel's subtitle, "A Tale of Today." The main characters, all their intrigues and scheming on behalf of the motivating spirit of the age - an insatiable longing for great personal wealth - are closely based on real people from Sam Clemen’s past and on actual events that newspaper readers of the 1870s would have recognized. In this, Twain and Warner were pioneers in producing an early American realist novel, albeit one that alternated between comic satire and raw disgust. It remains a useful document of the era and a testimony to the adage that "the more things change, the more they stay the same."

A pleasant surprise for those who enjoy audio books, both as stand-alone “listens” or in conjunction with the printed text, is the Blackstone audio production, which features the the sparkling polyglotic narration by Bronson Pinchot - yes, THAT Bronson Pinchot (the “Balki” of the late ‘80s-early ‘90s sitcom Perfect Strangers)- who in my hearing hits precisely the right notes for some of Twain's most memorably Dickensian characters – the huckster Colonel Sellers, a complex, ambitious Laura Hawkins, the oleaginous Senator Dilsworthy, and more. Simply brilliant voice-acting. ...more

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Mar 30, 2017 Kurtbg rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

A lesser known co-authored work with Mark Twain that takes a satirical look at get-rich schemes and political shennagins in the mid to late 1800's. I thought the weaving of story, character, and value to humanity was balanced better than some later 20th century books, such as those written by Aldous Huxley and Thomas Mann. I could also be said to pave the way for Upton Sinclair's, The Jungle.

Even still, the book serves as representative (albeit skewed) critique of the times. Who would have thoug ...more

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Sep 22, 2020 Joy rated it liked it

Shelves: humor, politics, non-fiction, classic, american-lit, favorite-author, history, fiction, americana, bucket-list

This book made me sad. It's the first Twain that I haven't picked up with delight and looked forward to reading. Instead, I picked it up thinking, "I can't wait until I'm done with this one."

That's not how you should feel about a book unless it's Henry James. Then it's okay because that man could make a three word sentence last for three pages.

I suspect that the parts I disliked were written by the co-author as others seem to indicate. I can't imagine Twain being as wagless as the passages indic ...more

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Aug 08, 2019 Michael rated it liked it

Shelves: classics, literature, historical-fiction, humor

Mark Twain's only collaborative novel written with C.D. Warner published in 1873. This book gave the name to the era in which it was written from about 1870 to 1900. It became synonomous with materialism, corruption, and graft in public life and particularly in Washington.
Not Twain's best novel but good novel nonetheless. ...more

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Mar 05, 2012 Roberta rated it really liked it · review of another edition

It is hard to imagine that a political story could provide so many laugh-out-loud moments. Having just completed this book, I now cannot imagine anyone who has despised Washington and its politicians more than Mark Twain! His descriptions of the corruption were hysterical (to me) in their full-frontal assault! Based on his opinion, it is difficult to imagine that he was not thrown out of the country … by the politicians that he so thoroughly lambasted! Too funny!

Of course, there were other disho It is hard to imagine that a political story could provide so many laugh-out-loud moments. Having just completed this book, I now cannot imagine anyone who has despised Washington and its politicians more than Mark Twain! His descriptions of the corruption were hysterical (to me) in their full-frontal assault! Based on his opinion, it is difficult to imagine that he was not thrown out of the country … by the politicians that he so thoroughly lambasted! Too funny!

Of course, there were other dishonorable characters besides the politicians—some who were likeable and some who were not. It seemed to me that the only truly honorable people (other than Philip and Clay) were the quiet mothers who stayed home and managed to make things work in spite of the irresponsible efforts of their men. It was also very interesting—especially in light of today’s sense of entitlement by our young folks—that this is apparently not a new concept, but rather a concept of a bygone era simply come to the forefront again. The young men of this story thought it best to “speculate” in order to gain wealth and reputation, rather than simply “work” in an honest profession.

Overall, there were times when I was simply tired of reading this endlessly negative story, but stayed with it to reach the final outcome (I just cannot give up on a book). Fortunately, there was enough time spent with the good characters to carry me through, and the various stories about the politicians were definitely good for a continuous laugh. The language / prose / descriptions / diction made it all worthwhile. What an extraordinary gift for turning a magical phrase! For that alone, it was more than worth the time!

EXCERPT:
{Travelling on the Mississippi on a small steamboat} But of course familiarity with these things soon took away their terrors, and then the voyage at once became a glorious adventure, a royal progress through the very heart and home of romance, a realization of their rosiest wonder-dreams. They sat by the hour in the shade of the pilot house on the hurricane deck and looked out over the curving expanses of the river sparkling in the sunlight. Sometimes the boat fought the midstream current, with a verdant world on either hand, and remote from both; sometimes she closed in under a point, where the dead water and the helping eddies were, and shaved the bank so closely that the decks were swept by the jungle of over-hanging willows and littered with a spoil of leaves; departing from these "points" she regularly crossed the river every five miles, avoiding the "bight" of the great binds and thus escaping the strong current; sometimes she went out and skirted a high "bluff" sand-bar in the middle of the stream, and occasionally followed it up a little too far and touched upon the shoal water at its head--and then the intelligent craft refused to run herself aground, but "smelt" the bar, and straightway the foamy streak that streamed away from her bows vanished, a great foamless wave rolled forward and passed her under way, and in this instant she leaned far over on her side, shied from the bar and fled square away from the danger like a frightened thing--and the pilot was lucky if he managed to "straighten her up" before she drove her nose into the opposite bank; sometimes she approached a solid wall of tall trees as if she meant to break through it, but all of a sudden a little crack would open just enough to admit her, and away she would go plowing through the "chute" with just barely room enough between the island on one side and the main land on the other; in this sluggish water she seemed to go like a racehorse; now and then log cabins appeared in little clearings, with the never-failing frowsy women and girls in soiled and faded linsey-woolsey leaning in the doors or against woodpiles and rail fences, gazing sleepily at the passing show; sometimes she found shoal water, going out at the head of those "chutes" or crossing the river, and then a deck-hand stood on the bow and hove the lead, while the boat slowed down and moved cautiously; sometimes she stopped a moment at a landing and took on some freight or a passenger while a crowd of slouchy white men and negroes stood on the bank and looked sleepily on with their hands in their pantaloons pockets,--of course--for they never took them out except to stretch, and when they did this they squirmed about and reached their fists up into the air and lifted themselves on tip-toe in an ecstasy of enjoyment.
Twain, Mark (2009-06-30). Classic American Literature: The Works of Mark Twain, 24 books in a single file, improved 6/1/2011 (Kindle Locations 597-603). B&R Samizdat Express. Kindle Edition.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ...more

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Jul 11, 2016 Marty Reeder rated it really liked it

Shelves: bedroom-bookshelf

In this my year of Mark Twain, I am starting to work down the line into books of his that are less-well-known, and The Gilded Age definitely fits that bill. It is most well known for its coining of a phrase that would mark an historical era, but if you would’ve asked me (or any American history teacher who uses the phrase multiple times each year) what the story was behind the title, I would’ve either shrugged or made up a convincing lie (you shouldn’t have asked me and put me in the position to In this my year of Mark Twain, I am starting to work down the line into books of his that are less-well-known, and The Gilded Age definitely fits that bill. It is most well known for its coining of a phrase that would mark an historical era, but if you would’ve asked me (or any American history teacher who uses the phrase multiple times each year) what the story was behind the title, I would’ve either shrugged or made up a convincing lie (you shouldn’t have asked me and put me in the position to lie in the first place! Why did you do that?!).

While at my mom’s house, having a typical desperately-vying-for-attention-conversation with my siblings, I saw The Gilded Age sitting in my mom’s bookshelf and remembered seeing the title growing up as a kid. I started reading it there (thus ceding attention to a less-worthy sister/brother), and I was immediately immersed in the story. I knew that The Gilded Age was going to be next in my Twain targets.

Besides the surprise of being immediately drawn in by the story, I was also surprised that this story was co-authored. Poor Charles Dudley Warner is completely ignored by most references to this title, yet the guy wrote at least half of the (many) words. Apparently he and Twain were neighbors and decided to have a go at writing a novel together, the first fiction novel either of them would write. Team writing a first novel does not bode well and I think even the best of authors nowadays would struggle under those circumstances. How did these boys do? Yeah, it was a bumpy and kind of raw ride, but both are talented and the story is worthwhile, unique, and--most importantly--eminently applicable.

I was amazed by the scope with which they addressed their theme: the Gilded Age. Financial speculation, mining, real estate, railroad, inheritance, politics, corruption, literature, relationships, celebrity, law, media, medical (bordering, almost prophetically, on a commentary of social media-like of the fury of impassioned, fickle, and ignorant public opinion)--all of these are inspected and analyzed with the gilded perspective of opting for the easy, deceptive, hyper-emotional, attention-seeking route instead of the simple, hard-working, humble method. It’s all there. What’s more, even though the subtitle of The Gilded Age is A Tale of Today, I honestly cannot think of a more appropriate satire of today’s society than Twain and Warner’s 1873 story. Replace some of the nineteenth century topics with relevant twenty-first century ones, and then keep the rest the same (especially politics and corruption, celebrity, law, and media) and you have the perfect twenty-first century allegory.

How do they introduce and explore these complicated issues? Through the story of the Hawkins family and a tract of land that they hope to get a lot of money out of some day. The fate of Squire Hawkins’s children and how this ephemeral hope for easy wealth affects their livelihood, life choices, and ultimate happiness is informative as it is engaging. Secondarily, it follows two young men seeking their fortunes as they leave school and embark on careers and romance. These two storylines inevitably interact and co-mingle in anticipated and sometimes unexpected ways, and ultimately Warner and Twain create characters to care about, empathize with, and root for … as well as ones to laugh at, despise, and disdain.

The storyline jerks around at times and some ideas are not completely developed. Some adventures drag on while others feel short changed (one forgivable loose end is hilariously addressed in an afterword that smacks of pure Mark Twain blitheness). There is definitely a feel of some rookie rockiness to this whole story, but it’s an ambitious project from a first-time writing team and if it falls short, it’s only after exceeding expectations in the first place.

One fun exercise for book-nerd me was to try to guess which chapters were written by which authors. They both took two big chunks to start off the story with and I was smugly pleased with myself when I correctly identified the first transition. Then they go back and forth in small spurts, then it comes down to different parts of the same chapter. I was pretty spot on at first, then pretty confident later on, and then … I had suspicions but wasn’t absolutely sure, then I’d pick up some hints and finally I’d forget and just enjoy the story.

Overall my recommendation is to read The Gilded Age because it truly is a Tale of Today.
...more

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Apr 05, 2018 Tam May rated it really liked it

Confession time - I am not a big fan of Twain's more famous works. I just could never get into them. I tried rereading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn recently and quit at the point where a bunch of teenage boys were agreeing to kill women and children because they wanted to become pirate and "that's what pirates do". Twain's brand of humor is sometimes absurdist, sometimes laugh-out-loud funny, but often times very vicious and nasty (for some real-life examples of this, see The Bohemians: Ma ...more

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Sep 26, 2019 Lewis Millholland rated it did not like it

Someone -- a politician, for some reason -- said if he had one wish it'd be to un-read "Huckleberry Finn" so that he could relive the experience of reading it for the first time. That book, along with "Tom Sawyer," took on a cult-like status in my home as a kid. Most of our books were cheap beach-read novels with simple binding and thin, cardboard covers. Those two Twain novels were combined in one hardback maroon anthology that included a built-in tassel for marking your page, like some Bibles Someone -- a politician, for some reason -- said if he had one wish it'd be to un-read "Huckleberry Finn" so that he could relive the experience of reading it for the first time. That book, along with "Tom Sawyer," took on a cult-like status in my home as a kid. Most of our books were cheap beach-read novels with simple binding and thin, cardboard covers. Those two Twain novels were combined in one hardback maroon anthology that included a built-in tassel for marking your page, like some Bibles have got.

The obvious plot twist here is that I never liked either book and it's true, I tried as a kid and joked to my mom that when I couldn't sleep I pulled out Mark Twain and within five minutes I was out. But there was no humor behind my sleep aid joke. Mostly I'd recite it verbatim for the dual purposes of lolling my tongue out and hurting my mom in that innately cruel way everyone wants to hurt their parents, just a little bit.

Since then I've come across some of Twain's writings and pithy quotes. There's one where the narrator is a kid learning to sail a steamboat. Wasn't bad. And the more I came to appreciate the classic works the more unconsciously excited I've become to read Twain, apparently, because my conscious mind was shocked at how much energy flowed through me when I picked up "The Gilded Age."

No need to beat around the bush, especially with that 1-star review up top. It wasn't great. Even in its own time it was one of Dickens' later novels, and the post-Reconstruction era was only christened "The Gilded Age" decades later, by 1920s and 30s intellectuals seeking an appropriate moniker.

If there's one thing Twain's good at, it's pith.

The novel reads a bit like a Dickensian work (says the guy who's read only "Tale of Two Cities" and part of "Great Expectations" lol) -- a bunch of cities, a bunch of characters, and long, long monologues to point out curious ideas or mock archetype the speaker represents. There were a couple times I was drawn into the novel's underlying idea, the false patina of get-rich-quick schemes in the 1870s. It made me think about tech bros and Silicon Valley, actually.

But it's old. It's not a timeless novel and what was mediocre a hundred fifty years ago hasn't aged into something beautiful and revealing. I only read about a quarter of the work before putting it down in exchange for Scaduto's first biography of Bob Dylan, the one published in 1973. That one's been a treat to read. ...more

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Jun 04, 2015 Todd Stockslager rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

Review title: Shockingly modern
Twain (and often-overlooked coauthor Charles Dudley Warner) subtitled this profound satire "A tale of today", and in its prescience it is profoundly and even shockingly modern. Real estate booms and busts, political corruption, energy exploration frauds, celebrity culture, celebrity criminal trials as "reality" entertainment--its all here, in powerful yet powerfully restrained Twainian 3-D. Perhaps it was Warner's influence (at the time of publication early in Twai ...more

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Dec 19, 2019 Barbara rated it really liked it

The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today is not one of Mark Twain’s more well-known books. It’s the only one he wrote with a collaborator, Charles Dudley Warner, who was also a friend and neighbor. The story goes that their wives challenged them “to write a better novel than what they were used to reading.”

But this book is distinctive for an additional reason: its name became applied to the era after Reconstruction until the 1900s. According to this site, “American economy grew at its fastest rate in his ...more

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Jan 20, 2008 Deborah rated it really liked it

One morning, not so long ago, my slumber was interrupted by a voice from the clock radio, saying, "If you want to understand what's happening in China today, read The Gilded Age by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner."

My instinctual action upon hearing that fateful alarm was to silence it, and as a result, the connection between post-Civil War America and modern-day China is rather unclear to me. Perhaps the growing wealth and power of China is an illusion, just as the wealth and prominence of ...more

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Sep 02, 2011 Ed rated it really liked it

Shelves: e-book

A good read. A dark satire of post-Civil War United States, where the American Dream isn't quite as reachable as it seems. It follows two groups: The Hawkins family and two young New England men, Philip and Henry. The Hawkins are an incredibly poor Tennessee family living off the promise of wealth from selling their property. Philip and Henry try to make their fortune at land speculation and prospecting for coal. The fulfillment of their promises are always just around the corner, but are always ...more

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Nov 25, 2011 Scott rated it liked it

Holding this back to become the last of Twain's novels to be read before being able say I've read them all was not a bad choice. Although the book had its moments, it was, overaa, a disappointing read. Hyped as being an expose of a corrupt time much like our own, the chapters with any exposing were very rare. Only one comes to mind. It was easy to tell which chapters were Twain's and which were written by his collaborator. The Warner chapters were almost without exception stilted and uninteresti ...more

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Aug 15, 2017 Matt marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: social-crit, fictions-of-the-big-it, satire, america-fuck-yeah, tsundoku

Picked up a souvenir copy at the surprisingly lovely and opulent Mark Twain house in CT. What a grand place for the man to write, argue, host, smoke, drink, and ruminate. Three cheers for affluent father in laws!

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Apr 20, 2008 D.J. Sylvis rated it it was ok

Gave up after 100 pages - just couldn't do it. Not one of his better books, in my opinion. ...more

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Mar 08, 2019 Erwin rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: slavery, favorite-author, 19th-century-work, fiction, american-classic

Published in 1873 "The Gilded Age" is a blast from the past that features themes that could easily have been taken from todays headlines. Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner collaborated on this work that defined an age... "the gilded age" which is the period between the Civil War and 1900 in America.

This is a story about:
Corruption in Washington DC
Politicians gaining power and maintaining power at all costs
Investigations in Washington DC by committee after committee
Money talks... on all le ...more

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Feb 15, 2019 Jackie Gill rated it did not like it

Shelves: maybe-i-ll-try-again-later, couldn-t-take-it-anymore

I RARELY give up on a book or movie. Once I start, no matter how terrible, I like to finish. HOWEVER, every now and then a special work comes along that puts up a fight so strong, that I even back down. I began reading The Gilded Age, liked it, continued, and hated it. I Continued and liked it again. I Continued and realized I had no idea what I had just been reading. And so on...

At some point along the way, I decided to read up on this book. I wanted to figure out what it was supposed to be abo I RARELY give up on a book or movie. Once I start, no matter how terrible, I like to finish. HOWEVER, every now and then a special work comes along that puts up a fight so strong, that I even back down. I began reading The Gilded Age, liked it, continued, and hated it. I Continued and liked it again. I Continued and realized I had no idea what I had just been reading. And so on...

At some point along the way, I decided to read up on this book. I wanted to figure out what it was supposed to be about and the messages I was supposed to be getting, because it certainly wasn't enlightening me about the Gilded Age. I wanted to see why it seemed to flow and hold my attention and then I'd get to a point where I was lost reading coma inducing drivel. I had a sincere interest in the Gilded Age, a period of time named as such because of this book. A period of time that is said to be quite similar to our current time of political insanity, extreme greed, and the huge divide between the haves and have nots. I have read quite a bit by Twain and I usually enjoy his works. The reader gets a good feel for the time period and Twain injects a lot of humor. This work, however, was lacking and disjointed.

This novel was the only work for which Twain had a co-author. Based on the result, I think this was best. At the time, the novel was not well-received because readers experienced much of what I did, it flowed, it hiccuped... Twain and Charles Warner worked out their co-authorship by dividing up chapters and stories. The novel was then pieced together by alternating chapters of each authors work. Needless to say, this did not work well, this did not flow, it was very off-putting, and, in my opinion, this created a mix of talented work pushed up against sub-par work. I am not familiar with Warner's work, but, what I read of it in this piece was ENOUGH.

When I began reading, I had no idea that The Guided Age was a collaboration (my Kindle copy only shows Twain on the cover), I only knew some parts flowed and then the brakes were thrown on. After reading who authored which parts, as I could have predicted, Twain's flowed and Warner's were the pages that should have been tossed down the memory hole and incinerated. The end of the book is supposed to be a true collaboration for which the authors sat down together and wrote. I did not make it there. Maybe one day, after I've read every book in the world I want to read, I will pick this one up again. Until then, I will just have to settle for historical accounts of the Gilded Age and commend Twain for never co-authoring a book again. ...more

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Jan 09, 2019 Ajay Venkitaraman rated it liked it

Shelves: history, politics, non-fiction, fiction, satire

The book talks about the post Civil War decades in America, which has been termed as 'the Gilded Age', which was the age of large speculations and most of them unfulfilled ones. The sad part is that the book is also one such unfulfilled speculation, as it promised to be so much more. There are many good things about this book, which includes a good plot, decent characterization, intermittently stunning dialogues and partially cutting philosophy and half-vivid descriptions. The issue is that all ...more

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About Mark Twain

Mark Twain

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Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist. He is noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), called "the Great American Novel", and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876).

Twain grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, which would later provide the setting for Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. He apprenticed with a printer. He also work ...more

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“It is a time when one’s spirit is subdued and sad, one knows not why; when the past seems a storm-swept desolation, life a vanity and a burden, and the future but a way to death. It is a time when one is filled with vague longings; when one dreams of flight to peaceful islands in the remote solitudes of the sea, or folds his hands and says, What is the use of struggling, and toiling and worrying any more? let us give it all up.” — 23 likes

“A woman's intuition is better than a man's. Nobody knows anything, really, you know, and a woman can guess a good deal nearer than a man.” — 11 likes

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