The best books on the glittering gilded age and its seamier side

Deborah Lincoln Author Of An Irish Wife
By Deborah Lincoln

Who am I?

I write historical fiction based on the lives of my ancestors: Agnes Canon’s War is the story of my twice-great grandparents during the Civil War. An Irish Wife is based on their son. I write about the Gilded Age, which is only now drawing the attention of historical novelists and the wider public: the vast wealth of industrialists contrasted to the poverty of the lower classes, scandalous politics, environmental degradation, fear of and prejudices about immigrants. My ancestors lived through those days; I want to imagine how that tumultuous society affected them, how they managed, what they lost and gained, and to memorialize those stories as a way to honor them.

I wrote...

An Irish Wife

By Deborah Lincoln

Book cover of An Irish Wife

What is my book about?

In the brilliant society of 1880s America, King Coal fuels fortunes and drives prosperity for the privileged—and destroys the dreams and the lives of the unfortunate. Harry Robinson is the hope of his family for the next generation, expected to ride Gilded-Age momentum to the American Dream. When Harry meets Niamh, an Irish Catholic wife of a miner, he begins to understand the extent of the prejudices that stalk local immigrants. As he undertakes the job of tutoring her younger brother, he finds himself falling in love for the first time. When Niamh shows up one day bloodied and bruised, Harry is determined to take her away, despite her religious scruples and the disapproval of his family. But Niamh and her brother disappear.  

When you buy a book we may earn a small commission.

The Books I Picked & Why

The Age of Innocence

By Edith Wharton

Book cover of The Age of Innocence

Why this book?

Before there were Daniel Day Lewis and Michelle Pfeiffer, there was the book that brought them together (in the movie): Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence, Wharton’s lush, sepia-toned tale of the New York haut ton of the 1870s. Gilded Age society at its best; it won the 1921 Pulitzer for fiction, making Wharton the first woman to win the prize. Read it first, then stream the movie. I loved its opulent portrayal of the well-heeled society of upper-class New York and its spot-on portrayal of moral hypocrisy. The battles that nineteenth-century women of all classes fought to live their lives with integrity and honesty seem to me to echo today in the ongoing injustices perpetrated against society’s powerless.

When you buy a book we may earn a small commission.

Germinal

By Emile Zola, Peter Collier

Book cover of Germinal

Why this book?

No glitter here. Though Germinal takes place in the 186os, it was written in 1884, and Gilded Age sensibilities haunt this tale of the crushing lives of French coal miners whose labor, hardships, and deaths fuel the excesses of Gilded Age lives. Zola’s masterpiece, with several movie adaptations to choose from.

When you buy a book we may earn a small commission.

Paradise Falls

By Don Robertson

Book cover of Paradise Falls

Why this book?

Two volumes, nearly a thousand pages—but don’t let that put you off. This is the background story of the Gilded Age in small-town America, a microcosm of all that was best and worst in the era. Coal mines—a theme running through much Gilded Age tale-telling—and vast riches, sexual misadventures in a time when Victorian straitjackets were loosening, neighborly battles, far-reaching strikes, religious convulsions, political shenanigans. They’re all here. You’ll get lost in them.

When you buy a book we may earn a small commission.

The Age of Acrimony: How Americans Fought to Fix Their Democracy, 1865-1915

By Jon Grinspan

Book cover of The Age of Acrimony: How Americans Fought to Fix Their Democracy, 1865-1915

Why this book?

And now to nonfiction. For anyone who savors the study of history as a prelude to the present, this is the book to read. The Gilded Age, rife with economic and technologic disruptions and the clash between the ever-richer and the always-poor, driven by industrial juggernauts and riven by raucous, violent politics—to understand the era and see the roots of many of today’s issues, this book is a must.

When you buy a book we may earn a small commission.

A Secret Life: The Lies and Scandals of President Grover Cleveland

By Charles Lachman

Book cover of A Secret Life: The Lies and Scandals of President Grover Cleveland

Why this book?

Delicious fact that reads like fiction and tells a story of Gilded Age power politics. Presidential scandals? Nothing new here. The tale of the illegitimate son of the 22nd and 24th president and the boy’s defenseless mother perfectly illustrates the sexual upheavals of the era and the workings of a society steaming along in an effort to keep pace with the changes of the new industrial era.

When you buy a book we may earn a small commission.

Closely Related Book Lists

The best books for effortless, entertaining history absorption and gorgeous grammar

Lisa Redfern Author Of Phases of Gage: After the Accident Years Lisa Redfern

The best historical novels to bring the American Civil War alive

Terry Roberts Author Of That Bright Land Terry Roberts

The best books to savour the history of Paris

Mike Rapport Author Of Rebel Cities Mike Rapport

The best historical novels set in New York City

Eileen Charbonneau Author Of Watch Over Me Eileen Charbonneau

Distantly Related Book Lists

The best novels about houses

Lucy Hughes-Hallett Author Of Peculiar Ground Lucy Hughes-Hallett

The best novels to gain perspective about the American Civil War

J.D.R. Hawkins Author Of Horses in Gray: Famous Confederate Warhorses J.D.R. Hawkins

The best books to help us know ourselves

Keith Ellis Author Of Magic Bullet: The Secret That Can Change Your Life in 10 Seconds—or Less Keith Ellis

The best books covering a wide cultural spectrum for an inquiring mind

Tim Madge Author Of White Mischief: A Cultural History of Cocaine Tim Madge