In the decades after America's Civil War, the railroads, telegraphs, and increasingly crowded urban centers were changing America’s long status as an agrarian nation. The Industrial Revolution also ushered in conspicuous consumption, rampant inequality, and corruption, leading many to wonder what had happened to the nation's democratic ideals and promise. Narrated by Oliver Platt, this PBS-aired American Experience documentary directed by Sarah Colt examines America's Gilded Age, a time when there was no tax (income, inheritance, or corporate), and a mansion in Newport, RI, could be called a "cottage," while many endured lives of crowded, sooty poverty, marked by child labor, few regulations, and unsafe workplace conditions. The documentary covers such memorable figures as financier J. Pierpont Morgan, who was known to freeze onlookers with his bulbous nose and piercing glare, and self-made industrialist Andrew Carnegie who, despite his benign appearance, believed in the "survival of the fittest," suppressing wages by violently breaking a strike at his steel plant in Homestead, PA. The film also covers such diverse figures as reformer Henry George, who helped invent populism; William Jennings Bryan, known for his winding speeches; and the titular leader of "Coxey's Army," a crusade marking the first march on Washington that ended when Coxey was arrested for trespassing. Along the way, The Gilded Age touches on a wide range of topics, including the status of immigrants, African Americans, and women. Highly recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (S. Rees)
The Gilded Age
(2018) 120 min. DVD: $24.99 ($54.99 w/PPR). PBS Video. ISBN: 978-1-5317-0395-0. Volume 33, Issue 4
The Gilded Age
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