The Gilded Age A Tale of Today

by Twain, Mark; Warner, Charles Dudley; Budd, Louis J.; Budd, Louis J.

• ISBN13: 9780140439205
• ISBN10: 014043920X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-09-01
• Publisher: Penguin Classics

Summary

With The Gilded Age Mark Twain not only began an illustrious literary career - he also coined a phrase to describe an era. First published in 1873, The Gilded Age is both a biting satire and a revealing portrait of post-Civil War America - an age of corruption, of national optimism, and of crooked land speculators, ruthless bankers, and dishonest politicians voraciously taking advantage of that new optimism. With his characteristic wit and perception, Mark Twain and his collaborator, Charles Dudley Warner, attack the greed, lust, and naivete of their own time in a work that remains today not only a valuable social document but also one of America's most important satirical novels.

Author Biography

Mark Twain was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in Florida, Missouri, in 1835, and died at Redding, Connecticut in 1910. In his person and in his pursuits he was a man of extraordinary contrasts. Although he left school at twelve when his father died, he was eventually awarded honorary degrees from Yale University, the University of Missouri, and Oxford University. His career encompassed such varied occupations as printer, Mississippi riverboat pilot, journalist, travel writer, and publisher. He made fortunes from his writing but toward the end of his life he had to resort to lecture tours to pay his debts. He was hot-tempered, profane, and sentimental—and also pessimistic, cynical, and tortured by self-doubt. His nostalgia helped produce some of his best books. He lives in American letters as a great artist, the writer whom William Dean Howells called “the Lincoln of our literature.”

Table of Contents

Introduction	xi
Suggestions for Further Reading	xxxiii
Note on the Text	xxxv
The Gilded Age
Preface	5	(2)
Squire Hawkins and His Tennessee Land---He Decides to Remove to Missouri	7	(9)
He Meets with and Adopts the Boy Clay	16	(4)
Uncle Daniel's Apparition and Prayer	20	(4)
The Steamboat Explosion	24	(10)
Adoption of the Little Girl Laura---Arrival at Missouri---Reception by Col. Beriah Sellers	34	(8)
Trouble and Darkness in the Hawkins Family---Proposed Sale of the Tennessee Land	42	(10)
Col. Sellers at Home---His Wonderful Clock and Cure for Rheumatism	52	(7)
Col. Sellers Makes Known His Magnificent Speculation Schemes and Astonishes Washington Hawkins	59	(8)
Death of Judge Hawkins	67	(6)
Laura Hawkins Discovers a Mystery in Her Parentage and Grows Morbid Under the Village Gossip	73	(8)
A Dinner with Col. Sellers---Wonderful Effects of Raw Turnips	81	(5)
Philip Sterling and Henry Brierly---Arrangements to Go West As Engineers	86	(7)
Railroad Contractors and Party Traveling---Philip and Harry Form the Acquiantance of Col. Sellers	93	(8)
Ruth Bolton and Her Parents	101	(6)
Visitors of the Boltons---Mr. Bigler ``Sees the Legislature''---Ruth Bolton Commences Medical Studies	107	(8)
The Engineers Detained at St. Louis---Off for Camp---Reception by Jeff Thompson	115	(8)
The Engineer Corps Arrive at Stone's Landing	123	(7)
Laura and Her Marriage to Col. Selby---Deserted and Returns to Hawkeye	130	(8)
Harry Brierly Infatuated with Laura and Proposes She Visit Washington	138	(8)
Senator Abner Dilworthy Visits Hawkeye---Addresses the People and Makes the Acquaintance of Laura	146	(6)
Ruth Bolton at Fallkill Seminary---The Montagues---Ruth Becomes Quite Gay---Alice Montague	152	(6)
Philip and Harry Visit Fallkill---Harry Does the Agreeable to Ruth	158	(9)
Harry at Washington Lobbying for an Appropriation for Stone's Landing---Philip in New York Studying Engineering	167	(3)
Washington and Its Sights---The Appropriation Bill Reported from the Committee and Passed	170	(8)
Energetic Movements at Stone's Landing---Everything Booming---A Grand Smash Up	178	(5)
The Boltons---Ruth at Home---Visitors and Speculations	183	(7)
Col. Sellers Comforts His Wife with His Views of the Prospects	190	(7)
Visit to Headquarters in Wall Street---How Appropriations Are Obtained and Their Cost	197	(10)
Philip's Experience with the Railroad Conductor---Surveys His Mining Property	207	(8)
Laura and Col. Sellers Go to Washington on Invitation of Senator Dilworthy	215	(3)
Philip and Harry at the Boltons'---Philip Seriously Injured---Ruth's First Case of Surgery	218	(8)
Laura Becomes a Famous Belle at Washington	226	(6)
Society in Washington---The Antiques, the Parvenus, and the Middle Aristocracy	232	(15)
Grand Scheme for Disposing of the Tennessee Land---Laura and Washington Hawkins Enjoying the Reputation of Being Millionaries	247	(5)
About Senators---Their Privileges and Habits	252	(6)
An Hour in a Book Store	258	(5)
Representative Buckstone and Laura's Strategic Coquetry	263	(4)
Reception Day in Washington---Laura Again Meets Col. Selby and the Effect upon Her	267	(7)
Col. Selby Visits Laura and Effects a Reconciliation	274	(5)
Col. Sellers's Career in Washington---Laura's Intimacy With Col. Selby Is Talked About	279	(6)
Harry Brierly Becomes Entirely Infatuated with Laura---Declares His Love and Gets Laughed At	285	(7)
How the Hon. Mr. Trollop Was Induced to Vote for Laura's Bill	292	(14)
Progress of the Bill in the House	306	(5)
Philip in Washington---Visits Laura	311	(6)
The Passsage of the Bill in the House of Representatives	317	(10)
Disappearance of Laura, and Murder of Col. Selby in New York	327	(8)
Laura in the Tombs and Her Visitors	335	(7)
Mr. Bolton Says Yes Again---Philip Returns to the Mines	342	(7)
The Coal Vien Found and Lost Again---Philip and the Boltons---Elated and Then Cruelly Disappointed	349	(7)
Philip Visits Fallkill and Proposes Studying Law with Mr. Montague---The 'Squire Invests in the Mine---Ruth Declares Her Love for Philip	356	(8)
Col. Sellers Enlightens Washington Hawkins on the Customs of Congress	364	(7)
How Senator Dilworthy Advanced Washington's Interests	371	(2)
Senator Dilworthy Goes West to See About His Re-election---He Becomes a Shining Light	373	(6)
The Trial of Laura for Murder	379	(8)
The Trial Continued---Evidence of Harry Brierly	387	(8)
The Trial Continued---Col. Sellers on the Stand and Takes Advantage of the Situation	395	(8)
The Momentous Day---Startling News---Dilworthy Denounced As a Briber and Defeated---The Bill Lost in the Senate	403	(6)
Verdict, Not Guilty!---Laura Free and Receives Propositions to Lecture---Philip Back at the Mines	409	(7)
The Investigation of the Dilworthy Bribery Case and Its Results	416	(10)
Laura Decides on Her Course---Attempts to Lecture and Fails---Found Dead in Her Chair	426	(7)
Col. Sellers and Washington Hawkins Review the Situation and Leave Washington	433	(6)
Philip Discouraged---One More Effort---Finds Coal at Last	439	(5)
Philip Leaves Ilium to See Ruth---Ruth Convalescent---Alice	444	(6)
Appendix	450	(15)
Editor's Appendices
Appendix A Author's Preface to the London Edition	451	(2)
Appendix B Translations of Chapter-Head Mottoes	453	(12)
Explanatory Notes	465