GILDED CITY:SCANDAL AND SENSATION IN TURN-OF-THE-CENTURY NEW YORK

Book ID/图书代码： 07042004B06180

English Summary/英文概要： The dark side of the Gilded Age is revealed in this vivid new view of turn-of-the-century New York. Scholar of American culture M. H. Dunlop penetrates the psyche of New York City in the pivotal years made famous by Edith Wharton, the Vanderbilts, and the Rockefellers, unveiling an age that was not genteel and proper but dangerous and predatory.

Drawing on rare primary sources, Dunlop showcases the sensational and surreal events of the times -- from a wealthy society wedding where locals were trampled in their frenzy to watch, to the harrowing nine-hour execution of a zoo elephant diagnosed with sexual frustration, and more. Spiced with cameos of such characters as Stanford White, William Merritt Chase, the Midnight Band of Mercy, and exotic dancer Little Egypt, Gilded City brings to life a key era that saw the city rise to dominance in America.

Chinese Summary/中文概要： 19世纪末20世纪初的纽约，曾被人们称为镀金时代。那时城市日新月异，财富滚滚而来；艾迪斯-沃顿，范德比尔特家族，洛克菲勒家族，世界名人众星闪烁。作者没有因循旧轨，而是另辟蹊径，记叙了这个镀金时代的另一面，不是显出绅士风度和高尚谈吐的那一面，而是充斥着弱肉强食的争斗和危险的那一面。她选取了当时许多轰动性的真实事件，从大批纽约平民狂热围观一个豪华婚礼引起互相践踏的悲剧，到一头动物园大象因性狂躁而导致长达9小时的伤人破坏奇闻；还记述了各种各样的人物，如Stanford White, William Merritt Chase, 半夜仁慈乐队，异国舞蹈演员Little Egypt，等等。

Awards/获奖情况："Dunlop is a keen observer and analyst of urban phenomena." ---New York Daily News

"Informative, interesting and perceptive. . . .[H]er points about consumption and competition among the newly rich are well taken."---Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post Book World

It’s unclear whether Dunlop (Sixty Miles from Contentment), who teaches 19th-century American literature and culture at Iowa State University, believes she is shocking her readers with tales of greed, excess and debauchery based on her close reading of period big-city newspapers, especially the New York Herald. Certainly, readers are well aware that even beneath the veneer of Victorian propriety lay the seamier side of the human condition. Nevertheless, she demonstrates that in the years between 1880 and 1910Aan age of "big new money" where "more and larger" were important achievementsAin New York City, "there was more wealth in private hands, more stuff available to buy, more opportunity to get ahead, and more densely packed poverty than anywhere else on the face of the earth." The wealthy flaunted their jewels, held elaborate social affairs and aspired to connections with European royalty. The general public was fascinated by such conspicuous consumption, in particular by "what other Americans could be made to do in their service" in exchange for money: "rich and not so rich men [set] out to discover how many girlsAat fifteen dollars apieceAwould drop their undergarments in front of a group of men." But this same public (rich and otherwise) was constantly on the lookout for the wealthy’s errors in judgment and action; a New York Herald reporter, for instance, described how Giulia Morosini, who had invited him to view her diamond-encrusted wardrobe for the upcoming social season, had the gall to suggest that, in compiling such a wardrobe, she was serving as a benefactress of social welfare and a promoter of the arts.. Dunlop has perfectly timed for what has been called a "new gilded age" her captivating and enlightening work on Americans’ obsession with money and privilege. Agent, John Ware. (Nov. 28; publication of this review was delayed due to a production error) ---From Publishers Weekly

About the Author/作者介绍： M.H. Dunlop holds a Ph.D. in American literature from George Washington University. She teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in nineteenth century American literature and culture at Iowa State University and has published widely on those topics. She is the author of Sixty Miles from Contentment: Traveling the Nineteenth-Century American Interior. She lives in Ames, Iows.
M. H. Dunlop在乔治-华盛顿大学获美国文学博士学位，在以阿华州立大学教19世纪美国文学和文化。她写过很多这方面的文章，还有一本书：“离开满足60英里：在19世纪的美国内陆旅行”。

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Rights Status/版权销售情况：Simplified Chinese/简体中文：AVAILABLE(到期可授)

Complex/Traditional Chinese/繁体中文：AVAILABLE

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