The Gilded Age
Regular price
2.750 KD
inc. VAT
Couldn't load pickup availability
Table of contents
- Cover1
- Title Page3
- Copyright Page4
- Contents6
- Preface8
- 1. Squire Hawkins and His Tennessee Land—He Decides to Remove to Missouri10
- 2. He Meets with and Adopts the Boy Clay14
- 3. Uncle Daniel’s Apparition and Prayer15
- 4. The Steamboat Explosion16
- 5. Adoption of the Little Girl Laura—Arrival at Missouri—Reception by Col. Beriah Sellers20
- 6. Trouble and Darkness in the Hawkins Family—Proposed Sale of the Tennessee Land23
- 7. Col. Sellers at Home—His Wonderful Clock and Cure for Rheumatism27
- 8. Col. Sellers Makes Known His Magnificent Speculation Schemes and Astonishes Washington Hawkins30
- 9. Death of Judge Hawkins33
- 10. Laura Hawkins Discovers a Mystery in Her Parentage and Grows Morbid Under the Village Gossip35
- 11. A Dinner with Col. Sellers—Wonderful Effects of Raw Turnips38
- 12. Philip Sterling and Henry Brierly—Arrangements to Go West As Engineers40
- 13. Railroad Contractors and Party Traveling—Philip and Harry Form the Acquaintance of Col. Sellers43
- 14. Ruth Bolton and Her Parents46
- 15. Visitors of the Boltons—Mr. Bigler “Sees the Legislature”—Ruth Bolton Commences Medical Studies49
- 16. The Engineers Detained at St. Louis—Off for Camp—Reception by Jeff Thompson52
- 17. The Engineer Corps Arrive at Stone’s Landing55
- 18. Laura and Her Marriage to Col. Selby—Deserted and Returns to Hawkeye58
- 19. Harry Brierly Infatuated with Laura and Proposes She Visit Washington61
- 20. Senator Abner Dilworthy Visits Hawkeye—Addresses the People and Makes the Acquaintance of Laura64
- 21. Ruth Bolton at Fallkill Seminary—The Montagues—Ruth Becomes Quite Gay—Alice Montague67
- 22. Philip and Harry Visit Fallkill—Harry Does the Agreeable to Ruth70
- 23. Harry at Washington Lobbying for an Appropriation for Stone’s Landing—Philip in New York Studying Engineering74
- 24. Washington and Its Sights—The Appropriation Bill Reported from the Committee and Passed75
- 25. Energetic Movements at Stone’s Landing—Everything Booming—A Grand Smash Up78
- 26. The Boltons—Ruth at Home—Visitors and Speculations80
- 27. Col. Sellers Comforts His Wife with His Views of the Prospects83
- 28. Visit to Headquarters in Wall Street—How Appropriations Are Obtained and Their Cost85
- 29. Philip’s Experience with the Railroad Conductor—Surveys His Mining Property89
- 30. Laura and Col. Sellers Go to Washington on Invitation of Senator Dilworthy92
- 31. Philip and Harry at the Boltons’—Philip Seriously Injured—Ruth’s First Case of Surgery93
- 32. Laura Becomes a Famous Belle at Washington96
- 33. Society in Washington—The Antiques, the Parvenus, and the Middle Aristocracy98
- 34. Grand Scheme for Disposing of the Tennessee Land—Laura and Washington Hawkins Enjoying the Reputation of Being Millionaires104
- 35. About Senators—Their Privileges and Habits106
- 36. An Hour in a Book Store109
- 37. Representative Buckstone and Laura’s Strategic Coquetry111
- 38. Reception Day in Washington—Laura Again Meets Col. Selby and the Effect upon Her112
- 39. Col. Selby Visits Laura and Effects a Reconciliation115
- 40. Col. Sellers’s Career in Washington—Laura’s Intimacy with Col. Selby Is Talked About117
- 41. Harry Brierly Becomes Entirely Infatuated with Laura—Declares His Love and Gets Laughed At119
- 42. How the Hon. Mr. Trollop Was Induced to Vote for Laura’s Bill122
- 43. Progress of the Bill in the House127
- 44. Philip in Washington—Visits Laura129
- 45. The Passage of the Bill in the House of Representatives132
- 46. Disappearance of Laura, and Murder of Col. Selby in New York136
- 47. Laura in the Tombs and Her Visitors139
- 48. Mr. Bolton Says Yes Again—Philip Returns to the Mines142
- 49. The Coal Vein Found and Lost Again—Philip and the Boltons—Elated and Then Cruelly Disappointed145
- 50. Philip Visits Fallkill and Proposes Studying Law with Mr. Montague—The ’Squire Invests in the Mine—Ruth Declares Her Love for Philip148
- 51. Col. Sellers Enlightens Washington Hawkins on the Customs of Congress151
- 52. How Senator Dilworthy Advanced Washington’s Interests154
- 53. Senator Dilworthy Goes West to See about His Re-election—He Becomes a Shining Light155
- 54. The Trial of Laura for Murder158
- 55. The Trial Continued—Evidence of Harry Brierly161
- 56. The Trial Continued—Col. Sellers on the Stand and Takes Advantage of the Situation164
- 57. The Momentous Day—Startling News—Dilworthy Denounced As a Briber and Defeated—The Bill Lost in the Senate167
- 58. Verdict, Not Guilty!—Laura Free and Receives Propositions to Lecture—Philip Back at the Mines170
- 59. The Investigation of the Dilworthy Bribery Case and Its Results173
- 60. Laura Decides on Her Course—Attempts to Lecture and Fails—Found Dead in Her Chair177
- 61. Col. Sellers and Washington Hawkins Review the Situation and Leave Washington180
- 62. Philip Discouraged—One More Effort—Finds Coal at Last183
- 63. Philip Leaves Ilium to See Ruth—Ruth Convalescent—Alice185
- Appendix A188
- Appendix B189
- Appendix C190
It began as a dinner-party contest: when Mark Twain and his neighbor Charles Dudley Warner criticized the deplorable quality of their wives' reading material, the two writers were challenged to come up with something more intriguing. Thus, for the only time in his career, Twain collaborated on a novel with another author. The title of their rollicking 1873 tale became synonymous with the rampant post–Civil War corruption of Washington, D.C., where crooked politicians and greedy speculators vied with bankers and industrialists to enrich themselves at the expense of the working class. Praised by historian Gary Wills as "our best political novel," The Gilded Age was among the first major American books to satirize the graft, materialism, and breakdown of public life. The subtitle, A Tale of Today, remains an accurate description of a declining democracy, in which enormous strides in industry and technology enrich only a tiny percentage of the population.