The term the 'Gilded Age' actually comes from a novel written by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner in 1873. I never knew that until recently. I started to read the book online and found it, like a lot of stories written back then, verbose. The storyline however is very interesting. A family seeks their fortune from 75,000 acres of land they own in Tennessee, believing it will bring them great wealth one day as mining, railroads, and people flock to the area. The story also satirizes political corruption at the time: one of the family members tries to lobby the U.S. Congress to buy the land. It all sounds so familiar!!!
This book was written at the beginning of what is historically called the Gilded Age in America. A time when political corruption was rampant, and a period of conspicuous consumption. That term, was coined in 1899 by economist Thorstein Veblen, in a book titled The Theory of the Leisure Class. The theory, in a nutshell, is that people of the time were consuming goods not for want or need but purely to show off to their friends that they could afford such things as yachts, jewels, and lavish homes.
My research helped me understand the motivations of the characters in my Durant family saga. Along the way I picked up a book at a library book sale titled: Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt: the Story of a Daughter and Mother in the Gilded Age, and I am shocked at the excess. One passage in particular caught my attention: after her divorce Alva Vanderbilt stays in Newport where the Vanderbilt mansion, the Marble House, was located. There, she "withdrew to a life of extravagant vacuity", inviting guests to dig for party favors of rubies, sapphires, and emeralds with silver spoons in a stream that ran through the center of the dining table.
Jeesh, my dinner parties would never pass the muster in this time period. Our idea of entertainment is letting go of sky lanterns on a quiet summer night.
This book was written at the beginning of what is historically called the Gilded Age in America. A time when political corruption was rampant, and a period of conspicuous consumption. That term, was coined in 1899 by economist Thorstein Veblen, in a book titled The Theory of the Leisure Class. The theory, in a nutshell, is that people of the time were consuming goods not for want or need but purely to show off to their friends that they could afford such things as yachts, jewels, and lavish homes.
My research helped me understand the motivations of the characters in my Durant family saga. Along the way I picked up a book at a library book sale titled: Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt: the Story of a Daughter and Mother in the Gilded Age, and I am shocked at the excess. One passage in particular caught my attention: after her divorce Alva Vanderbilt stays in Newport where the Vanderbilt mansion, the Marble House, was located. There, she "withdrew to a life of extravagant vacuity", inviting guests to dig for party favors of rubies, sapphires, and emeralds with silver spoons in a stream that ran through the center of the dining table.
Jeesh, my dinner parties would never pass the muster in this time period. Our idea of entertainment is letting go of sky lanterns on a quiet summer night.
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