A Blazing Gilded Age: Episodes of an American Family and a Volatile Era
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Book Overview
"What a Great Book " - Jennifer P., HISTORY/A+E
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DiSilvio's award-winning saga features the Wozniak family, who sail to America in pursuit of happiness, believing the streets are paved in gold, but find themselves enslaved in a dark and dangerous coal mine working for pennies. Meanwhile, their boss, Archibald Desmond Huxley, rakes in millions, while ignoring safety issues, and spares no expense as he builds his second opulent mansion on the Gold Coast of Long Island.
Adding further to their misfortune, the death of Jedrek Wozniak, by a negligent mine explosion, thrusts his wife and three sons on a course of revenge and justice, with Marcus, the youngest, taking on tremendous odds to fight the unbridled machine of capitalism. Along his rise, Marcus befriends Teddy Roosevelt, who joins his crusade to constrain robber barons, thus bringing him in contact with the upper echelon of society.
Entering the fold are such titans as J.P. Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, Mark Twain, Buffalo Bill, Susan B. Anthony, Nikola Tesla, as well as scenes of the harrowing assassinations of presidents Garfield and McKinley.
Both powerful and poignant, A Blazing Gilded Age is the epic story of a volatile nation burning with ambition yet bleeding with injustice. It was a time of profound change, boldly transforming from an agrarian backwater into an industrial powerhouse. Springing to life is an era boiling with bravado yet blistering with corruption, as innovation and military might collide with child labor and class warfare.
As relevant today as it was a century ago, readers, as well as History teachers and students, will find A Blazing Gilded Age to be a timeless classic, one that peels back the gilded veneer to shine a light on the darkest pit of inequality and child abuse, while acknowledging the blazing innovation the made America become a world leader.
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