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Calhoun argues that the Gilded Age is under-studied and misunderstood, a conclusion that my education has supported. Although I am but one student out of so many that learn about American history in our nation, I believed that I received a high caliber education. However, my AP US History teacher, like so many that Calhoun criticizes, stereotyped the Gilded Age as a period of “superficiality, pretense, and fraud.” We breezed through the period, moving on quickly to more ‘interesting’ topics such as the Progressive Era and World War One.
But why does this misunderstanding matter, a question that both Molly and Sarah have dealt with. For me, this question goes back to the question of why we are students of history: to better understand the present vis-à-vis the past. My AP US History teacher not only presented a flawed view of the Gilded Age, as seen by Calhoun, but also failed to make the connections that bring relevance to the topic. New Spirits makes this astonishingly clear, tracing the roots of our modern society back to this tumultuous period. The Gilded Age brought about changes that form the foundation of our society today, including the new morals and ways of life that guide our decisions. However, I see more than that, I see also the beginnings of debates that are key today, such as our national dependence on fossil fuel, the trials of commuters to the cities that are so often depicted in our mass media, and the role of that our government should play in private lives. These and many more key issues and aspects of our society today were either heavily impacted by the Gilded Age or find their origins in that period.
Dr. Shrout’s posting on the climate disasters of 2013 are particularly enlightening in view of the connections made in chapter two of New Spirits, of how the natural world influenced America’s development. This is examined on page 45 of Edwards’ work, going into depth on how weather patterns influenced the development of the Great Plains.