Our Gilded Age

Abstract

AbstractThis essay looks at Richard White's 2017 survey of the Gilded Age, The Republic for Which It Stands, in relation to other recent histories of the period. The Republic is filled with seemingly endless examples of corruption, personal venality, individual stupidity, ideological rigidity, and even good intentions gone awry. A vast and broad cast of Americans—some well-known, some more obscure—dash across the pages. But in White's republic, the changes are in the details rather than the narrative arc. Consequently, and in marked contrast to the other Gilded Age histories considered here, White's Gilded Age is neither optimistic nor tragic. Instead, it is fatalistic, a Gilded Age for our time.