First time poster in this sub. I'm really interested in American history from the Reconstruction Era to the turn of the 20th century, but I realized I just don't know that much about it beyond the art. I teach art history from this period, so I want to expand my knowledge of the historical context beyond the basics.
Does anyone have any good nonfiction about this time period? Either specific events/people or a general overview is fine. Thanks in advance!
by RaspberrySuns
2 Comments
Beyond the pale by Elana Dykwomon – set in the 1890s about a queer Jewish girl escaping Russia to New York. A lot of workers rights, tenement living, queer culture in the 1890s & A little bit of magic realism with Jewish folk magic.
It’s not nonfiction- just noticed that you were asking for non-fiction. But it is incredibly well researched. & a beautiful story
It’s a bit on the academic side and not exactly a true match, but Who Killed Jane Stanford? Is about the widow of the train Robber Baron who set up Stanford University as a memorial to her only child who died on a grand tour of Europe in Florence. He husband predeceased her and she was left to shepherd the university through its first years. Her extravagant life of global travel and continued acquisition of art, and material goods was a window into the West Coast Gilded Age society in haven’t seen elsewhere. Then there is her mysterious death and likely murder. Possibly by the first president of the university she founded who was a noted Ichthyologist and outspoken eugenicist.
The new biography on Isabella Stewart Gradener is a perfect east coast compliment to that book, and looks at the Gilded Age in Boston as opposed to the usual NYC, though she did come of age there. It called Chasing Beauty.
A very good companion to that book is the newish John Singer Sargent biography Grand Tour, which ties Europe and the art scene to the Gilded Age in America through his society portraiture and intimate relationship with ISG.