Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
---|---|---|
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury) | 974.7 DUN | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
The dark side of the Gilded Age is revealed in this richly narrated new view of turn-of-the century New York. American culture scholar M. H. Dunlop penetrates the psyche of New York City in the pivotal years made famous by Edith Wharton and by families like the Vanderbilts and the Rockefellers, unveiling a Gilded Age that was not genteel and proper but dangerous and predatory. She shows us a society whose drives and desires speak familiarly to our own.
Drawing on rare primary sources, Dunlop focuses each chapter on an event-whether infamous or near-forgotten-that showcases a singular facet of America as reflected in its most prominent city. The passions and preoccupations of the time emerge in Dunlop's edgy portraits of sensational events that riveted the public, including a wealthy society wed, ding where locals were trampled in their frenzy to watch; a bachelor dinner during which men sliced off the girl dancers' dresses; the harrowing nine-hour execution of a zoo elephant diagnosed with sexual frustration; and more.
No other book makes comparable use of the vivid and varied newspapers of the day to reveal the everyday behaviors of a broad spectrum of city people. Dunlop's account is embedded in these and other primary sources, from decorators' manuals to vice commission reports. The result is a mesmerizing story that upends familiar generalizations about the late nineteenth century and uncovers the fixations, fads, and fears of the time-the real hum of city life.
Spiced with cameos of such characters as exotic dancer Little Egypt, Stanford White, William Merritt Chase, art-collecting ex-con Eddie Stokes, the Midnight Band of Mercy (women who chloroformed cats on the streets after 8:00 P.M.), and Grover Cleveland's "mutton-fat diet" doctor, Gilded City brings to life a key era that saw the city rise to domi, nance in America. With her unerring eye for the vivid details that expose the truth of the time, M. H. Dunlop has shone a spotlight on the American mind.
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
It's unclear whether Dunlop (Sixty Miles from Contentment), who teaches 19th-century American literature and culture at Iowa State University, believes she is shocking her readers with tales of greed, excess and debauchery based on her close reading of period big-city newspapers, especially the New York Herald. Certainly, readers are well aware that even beneath the veneer of Victorian propriety lay the seamier side of the human condition. Nevertheless, she demonstrates that in the years between 1880 and 1910Äan age of "big new money" where "more and larger" were important achievementsÄin New York City, "there was more wealth in private hands, more stuff available to buy, more opportunity to get ahead, and more densely packed poverty than anywhere else on the face of the earth." The wealthy flaunted their jewels, held elaborate social affairs and aspired to connections with European royalty. The general public was fascinated by such conspicuous consumption, in particular by "what other Americans could be made to do in their service" in exchange for money: "rich and not so rich men [set] out to discover how many girlsÄat fifteen dollars apieceÄwould drop their undergarments in front of a group of men." But this same public (rich and otherwise) was constantly on the lookout for the wealthy's errors in judgment and action; a New York Herald reporter, for instance, described how Giulia Morosini, who had invited him to view her diamond-encrusted wardrobe for the upcoming social season, had the gall to suggest that, in compiling such a wardrobe, she was serving as a benefactress of social welfare and a promoter of the arts.. Dunlop has perfectly timed for what has been called a "new gilded age" her captivating and enlightening work on Americans' obsession with money and privilege. Agent, John Ware. (Nov. 28; publication of this review was delayed due to a production error) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Entertaining if insubstantial look at the goings-on among late19th-century New Yorks upper classes. Dunlop (Sixty Miles from Contentment, not reviewed) paints an unflattering picture of life among the social elite of turn-of-the-century Manhattan. He draws from a number of contemporary secondary sources (and a smattering of surviving primary ones) and begins by relating tales of the social excesses of the Bradley Martins, a preeminent and trend-setting family of the time. Then he roams through considerations of the bizarrely fashionable clothing styles and artistic tastes of the period, offers a brief discussion of rapidly increasing class tensions, and moves on to an overview of the sexual dysfunctions of both humans and elephants (yes, thats right) of those days. The spectacularly insensitive behavior of New Yorks prominent people (from all eras), of course, will never cease to amaze. But while the eccentricities of Gothams 19th-century denizens make for an amusing read, the author relies almost exclusively on contemporary newspaper accounts (from publications that invented the practice of yellow journalism). These accounts provide endless anecdotal diversions, but are hardly reliable in their veracity. Dunlop has two simple claims to establish. First, she maintains that there are many historical parallels between the late-19th century and our own day. Fair enough. Second, she believes that the ills of that time were caused by a hurried, overworked, male-dominated, sexist, and racist society unwilling to tolerate social criticism of any kind. As valid as this argument may be, it needs more in the way of evidence than a seemingly never-ending litany of New York Herald snippets and headlines. An agreeable snapshot of an interesting time and class in New Yorkbut a less-than-satisfying historical critique. (b&w illustrations throughout, not seen)
Library Journal Review
At the end of the 19th century, more wealth was privately owned in New York City than anywhere on Earth, notes Dunlop (American literature and culture, Iowa State Univ.; Sixty Miles from Contentment). Daily newspapers covered an acquisitive, unrestrained upper class that, with their glittering events and lavish wardrobes, demanded to be noticed. For her social portrait, the author explored books and eight city dailies, singling out the New York Herald for its informed coverage and style. With wry eloquence, Dunlop draws from an opulent Edith Wharton world, where wealth might buy status through a daughter's alliance with an impoverished British nobleman. Appearances mattered in 1897, when a plumber was denied admission to the Metropolitan Museum because he wore overalls. Diamond tiaras, rare skins, frenzied decorating, police-escorted slumming tours, and men's private pastimes occupied the moneyed class along with drug addiction and jarred nerves. Those without power and money who protested intolerable conditions were deemed cranks or worse. With chapters on art collecting, interior design, the depression of 1893, and even the widespread passion for diamonds, this entertaining book is filled with the immediacy and irreverence of its era's press coverage. Recommended for public and academic libraries.DElaine Machleder, Bronx, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.