Gilded Age

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Gilded Age

Q: What was the Gilded Age?

The Gilded Age was a period of flashy materialism and overt political corruption in the United States during the 1870s.

Q: Who were some of the key figures of the Gilded Age?

Among the best known of the entrepreneurs who became known, pejoratively, as robber barons during the Gilded Age were John D. Rockefeller , Andrew Carnegie , Cornelius Vanderbilt , Leland Stanford , and J.P. Morgan .

Q: Who coined the term Gilded Age?

The Gilded Age took its name from the novel The Gilded Age , written by Mark Twain in collaboration with Charles Dudley Warner and published in 1873

United States history

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Nov 21, 2024 • Article History

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Date:: c. 1871 - c. 1880

Location:: United States

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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)

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