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Arts & Culture
Gilded Age
United States history
Top Questions
What was the Gilded Age?
Who were some of the key figures of the Gilded Age?
Who coined the term Gilded Age?
Gilded Age, period of gross materialism and blatant political corruption in U.S. history during the 1870s that gave rise to important novels of social and political criticism. The period takes its name from the earliest of these, The Gilded Age (1873), written by Mark Twain in collaboration with Charles Dudley Warner. The novel gives a vivid and accurate description of Washington, D.C., and is peopled with caricatures of many leading figures of the day, including greedy industrialists and corrupt politicians. The great burst of industrial activity and corporate growth that characterized the Gilded Age was presided over by a collection ...(100 of 279 words)