BOOK REVIEW: America in the Gilded Age: From the Death of Lincoln to the Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Sean Dennis Cashman

My first nonfiction book of 2016 is America in the Gilded Age: From the Death of Lincoln to the Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Sean Dennis Cashman (first published in 1984). The book was pretty much what I expected: a fairly straightforward, old-fashioned history, full of names, dates, and events. It’s well-organized and covers a good deal of ground. Because of the way the chapters are broken up, each fairly chronological but each covering the same basic timeframe, there is significant repetition. However, this framework allows the reader to see how events were interwoven. It’s a bit of a drudge to read, despite the anecdotes and jokes peppered throughout, but it gets the history across. If you’re looking for an overview of America’s Gilded Age, this is a good place to start.