Gilded City - Scandals and Sensations of New York at the Turn of the Century

Author: (USA) M. H. Donaldson
Translator: Liu Yun, Gu Xiaoyan
Country: United States
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-08-01
Features: Donaldson's works vividly depict the forgotten scandals and sensational events of New York City in 1890. His thorough critical spirit reminds us to deeply reflect on this gilded society. — The New York Observer
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, New York was known as the Gilded Age. The city was rapidly progressing, with wealth flowing in; the Edith Wharton, Vanderbilts, Rockefellers, and other world-famous families shone like stars. The author did not follow the conventional path but instead broke new ground, narrating another side of this Gilded Age—not the one that showed gentlemanly demeanor and refined conversation, but rather the one filled with the struggle of the survival of the fittest and danger. She selected many sensational real-life events of the time, from the tragic incident of New York commoners frenziedly watching a luxurious wedding, leading to trampling, to the bizarre nine-hour incident of a zoo elephant causing harm due to sexual frenzy. She also recorded a variety of characters, such as Stanford White, William Merritt Chase, the Midnight Mercy Band, the exotic dancer Little Egypt, and so on.