The Gilded Age in New York, 1870-1910

Other reviews have said pretty much everything there is to say; my beef is that this is a photo survey of NY in general at about the turn of the century - NOT specifically about the RICH PEOPLE whom the age is named for. I was looking for a book that would've showed much more about these gilded age RICH PEOPLE, more snaps of their mansions, the interiors, the gilded age RICH PEOPLE themselves, what they wore, where they bought it, who designed it and supplied it. Besides Del's, where did they eat? What did they eat? How much was a Singer-Sargent portrait? How much was a carriage; how many servants was needed to support a 65 room mansion? When they shopped, how did they do it? What happened to all their stuff? In the spirit of being morbidly fascinated by and envious of Rich People, I wanted more, More, MORE.

NOTE: I've discovered the book The Opulent Interiors of the Gilded Age [Dover 0-486-25250-7] a reprint of a 2 volume work from 1883/84. Opulent Interiors has pictures of about 95 private homes of the richest of the rich - almost all of them demolished within 50 years of being built; a $17.5 million dollar mansion, in 1880 $$, gone in 65 years! Updated text by Lewis/Turner/McQuillin dissects what your'e seeing [who built it, who influenced them, the statement they were making], the source of their wealth [how they got and lost it], how wealthy Americans began to define and solidify their position as a 'class' - well, all sorts of general things that you want to know about Gilded Age Rich People without having to read a gigantic book to get at it - really great.

This is a fantastic book. Not only are the pictures fantastic, but the author adds some great stories to the photos that really help to bring the history alive. She's an amazing storyteller and my ten year old loves flipping through this book and reading about what it was like to live here long ago. It's a great gift for anyone, especially a family, that appreciates history and/or New York City. A must buy for our family.

A fabulous coffee table book full of photos and information about NYC during the time when the Astors, Vanderbilts, Carnegies and others ruled the society and business in NYC. I read the book with Google Earth open on my laptop so I could search the many locations and addresses mentioned. I wanted to see if the mansions were still there and what an address looked like today. All aspects of life appear to be covered, including dining out, attending church, riding or driving through Central Park, immigration, etc. It is loaded with photographs although I'd love it if more were in color (was color photography even possible yet?) I only have two complaints about this book. First, as I mentioned, I Google Earth'd many of the addresses the author mentioned. It would have been nice if she had mentioned what happened to the building located at the address. Were they torn down to make way for skyscrapers? Converted into apartments? What happened to the mansions that lined Millionaire's Row at the turn of the century. Secondly, the text is frequently interrupted by an additional story about a party, an architect's relationship with the wealthy families, a neighborhood theater or something of additional interest. While these items are interesting and do add to the information being presented, I found it to be disruptive and distracting when reading the main test. It could have easily been presented at the end of each chapter so the reader doesn't have to remember to go back to the item, or interrupt the flow of the main text. Otherwise, a superb volume for anyone interested in the gilded age in New York City.

This is a fantastic book! I am blown away by the amount of information, pictures and how all of it is displayed. I love looking at old photographs because of a natural curiosity about how people lived 100+ years ago. The time period is so close to ours, yet so far away. This book can be used as a coffee table book, but that would not be respectful enough for it considering what really is inside.

I can sit and slowly turn the pages absorbing the reality of what life was like in New York City starting from 1870. Many of the photographs and illustrations are very good and it's incredible to peer so clearly back into time. It's as if I could walk into the pictures and be there! The harshness of poverty, the rise of new wealth, city life, factory workers, the horrific fire at the shirt company......it's all there. Some of the photos are graphic and the text is very well written and descriptive giving a vast amount of interesting information. Again, I don't think this is coffee-table material because it goes very deeply into life and details of the years 1870 - 1910. This is a great book on the history of New York and anyone who was born there or has an interest in New York should spent the $25.00 or so and get this book.

I loved this book. An exploration of virtually every aspect of life in New York during the Gilded Age, it combines fascinating historical background, entertaining anecdotes and a vast array of wonderful old photos and drawings to make you feel like you have travelled through time to visit the world's greatest city during an unparalleled period of growth, development and modernization. Any New Yorker will enjoy the countless origin stories of familiar neighborhoods, buildings, bridges and other landmarks. Any history buff will revel in its peek into life in a simpler time as the industrial influences that would forever change the city, country and world are just beginning to make their mark. Great, great stuff.

I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but I bought it because I attended a lecture by the author who gave a sneak peek at the contents so I know it has excellent information inside. What surprised me was the quality of the book. It's a good size with nice, thick pages. But, most importantly, the pictures inside are stunning. I don't know how they managed to get that level of detail out of pictures so old. I know I will spend hours just looking at the pictures.

Excellent book! One correction though: On page 73 there is a picture of Cornelius II & Alice Vanderbilt's Fifth Avenue mansion which is incorrectly captioned "Alva Vanderbilt's showstopping château-like mansion at 660 Fifth Avenue, where her infamous costume ball was held." - it was the first thing I noticed when I opened the book!

Wow....I can't say enough good things about this book. I love good, meaty coffee table books, and this certainly fits the bill. The illustrations are simply dazzling. Many of the historic photos are colorized in a way I've never seen before. The cover of the book is a good example of what to expect inside....a huge picture with lots of detail painstakingly colorized that brings a real vibrancy to the work. My husband and I kind of get hypnotized staring at some of those colorized images of Mulberry street and Central Park.

The actual book itself was much larger than I was expecting, and the quality of the illustrations were sharp and clear. Even the fonts in the side-bars added a wonderful period touch.

And the text: Very nice! This is a whirlwind tour of NYC, so no topic has a ton of depth, but there are interesting sidebars with vignettes that provide humanizing details. I hope I don't sound like an advertisement....but for $27 you get a lot for your money. I wish there were more stunning coffee table books like this for other cities. Boston, anyone? Washington DC?

Bigger than I was expecting. Having worked as a guide in a house from that era, it was fascinating to see how, literally, the OTHER half lived. I imagine there were some of NY society who knew about what was going on just out of their range, so to speak, but too few actually did anything about it. A good read, except that it tends to interrupt the narrative with full-pages that distract from the flow. Otherwise, a good book.

When I ordered this book, I thought it would be more picture than text. I love those books that have lots of pictures that compare old cities to what is there today. This book isn't really that. It's an examination of New York during an incredibly interesting time. However, the pictures are in balance with the text, and this is a book that requires more reading than looking. I didn't want to necessarily read about the time, but see drawings and photographs of the city during that time. There are some of those in it, but just not enough and not what I was expecting.