The Gilded Age's Last Echo: America at the Turn of the Century

The closing years of the 19th century marked the end of one of the most paradoxical periods in American history, a time defined by rapid industrialization, extreme wealth disparities, and political corruption, yet simultaneously brimming with optimism, innovation, and a national sense of progress. The Gilded Age, a term coined by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner in their 1873 book The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today, is often viewed as a time when the United States seemed to shine on the su...