In the rapidly growing Chicago of the 1890s, ambition, wealth, and social status shape the lives of those who work and live within the city's towering commercial buildings.
Widely regarded as one of the first major novels of urban America, The Cliff-Dwellers offers a vivid portrait of Chicago during the Gilded Age. Set largely within the Clifton Building-a massive downtown office tower inspired by the new skyscrapers transforming the city-the novel follows a diverse cast of bankers, businessmen, clerks, social climbers, and families whose lives intersect amid the relentless pursuit of success. direction in American fiction.