Originally coined by Mark Twain, “The Gilded Age” is a sarcastic nickname for the time period in between the end of the Civil War and the turn of the nineteenth century. Taught in most history classrooms as the age of industrialization, economic booms and the corruption of wealthy tycoons, it’s the subject of the long-awaited new drama series from “Downton Abbey” creator Julian Fellowes.
Rather than just shining the spotlight on the elite upper class society who throw big parties and make sweeping gestures with their money, “The Gilded Age” layers that lifestyle with the realities of the middle class, working class and post-Civil War life for Black Americans.