The Gilded Age

The Gilded Age

In American history, the Gilded Age refers to the era of rapid economic and population growth in the United States during the post-Civil War and after the Reconstruction era of the late 19th century. The term "Gilded Age" was coined by Mark Twain's book The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today. The name refers to the process of gilding an object with a superficial layer of gold and is meant to make fun of ostentatious display while playing on the term "golden age".  As Americans like Twain began to recognize the conditions in which many working class citizens dealt with a new era would stem to begin solving these problems.  Until then, many lived with the pain exposed to them during this Gilded Age.