The Gilded Age in New York, 1870-1910

Description

An expansive exploration of The Gilded Age in New York City, from of the extravagant lifestyles and magnificent mansions of the ultra-rich to the daily doings of the wretchedly poor who lived in the shadows of their newly constructed skyscrapers―written by the curator of Ephemeral New York and illustrated with hundreds of rarely-seen images. "A beguiling, lavishly illustrated book that ... epitomizes what Ms. Crain calls the city's incredible energy and sense of its own greatness and destiny." -Sam Roberts, The New York Times Mark Twain coined the term the "Gilded Age" for this period of growth and extravagance, experienced most dramatically in New York City from the 1870s to 1910. In forty short years, the city suddenly became a city of skyscrapers, subways, streetlights, and Central Park, as well as sprawling bridges that connected the once-distant boroughs. In Manhattan, more than a million poor immigrants crammed into tenements, while the half of the millionaires in the entire country lined Fifth Avenue with their opulent mansions. The Gilded Age in New York City covers daily life for the rich, poor, and the burgeoning middle class; the colorful and energetic entrepreneurs known as both “captains of industry” and “robber barons” including John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Leland Stanford, and J.P. Morgan; the opulence and excess of the new wealthy class; the influx of immigrants which caused the city's population to quadruple in 40 years; how new-found leisure time was spent in places such as Coney Island and Central Park; crimes that shocked the city and altered the police force; the rise of social services; and the city's physical growth both skyward and outward toward the five boroughs. With more than 300 illustrations and photographs (including images colorized specifically for this book) combined with firsthand accounts and fascinating details, The Gilded Age in New York presents a vivid tapestry of American society at the turn of the century. Review: Dazzling! - Wow....I can't say enough good things about this book. I love good, meaty coffee table books, and this certainly fits the bill. The illustrations are simply dazzling. Many of the historic photos are colorized in a way I've never seen before. The cover of the book is a good example of what to expect inside....a huge picture with lots of detail painstakingly colorized that brings a real vibrancy to the work. My husband and I kind of get hypnotized staring at some of those colorized images of Mulberry street and Central Park. The actual book itself was much larger than I was expecting, and the quality of the illustrations were sharp and clear. Even the fonts in the side-bars added a wonderful period touch. And the text: Very nice! This is a whirlwind tour of NYC, so no topic has a ton of depth, but there are interesting sidebars with vignettes that provide humanizing details. I hope I don't sound like an advertisement....but for $27 you get a lot for your money. I wish there were more stunning coffee table books like this for other cities. Boston, anyone? Washington DC? Review: Book of New York city history and photos - Enjoying this book. History and many, many photos.