The period from 1870 to 1900 in the US has become known as the Gilded Age, during which America was transformed almost beyond recognition. In the 1870s, the country was still recovering from a horrendously destructive Civil War. The nation was still mainly agrarian; cities were relatively small and large-scale industry almost nonexistent. Thirty years later, the US had become an industrial powerhouse with massive cities featuring skyscrapers, electric lights, automobiles on the streets, and subways running below. An influx of immigrants from different parts of the world had changed the very nature of American society, which featured almost unimaginable wealth living side by side with abject poverty.

Inside, you will hear about:

• Taming the Wild West
• Robber barons and captains of industry
• Emergence of labor unions and women’s movements
• The new immigrants
• Invention and innovation
• And much more!

The Gilded Age was an era of entrepreneurs, inventions, industrial development, and new ideas. Most of all, it was a period of rapid and profound change that came at a high cost for the working class.

In a Golden Age, life is good for everyone. But in a Gilded Age, there is only a thin surface of gold over underlying base metal, a metaphor for a small number of fabulously wealthy people who grew rich by exploiting vast numbers who lived in poverty.

This is the story of the Gilded Age of America.