Chapters three and four of New Spirits present an interesting, although stereotypical account of the Gilded Age, examining \u2018work\u2019 and \u2018money.\u2019 The overall impression that these chapters present is one of hardship for the masses, from brakemen to cowboys.\u00a0 This impression coincides with the traditional reading of the Gilded Age as a time of corruption and big money, which directly contradicts Charles W. Calhoun\u2019s call for a reexamination and reevaluation of the true legacy of the Gilded Age in his piece, \u201cMoving Beyond Stereotypes of the Gilded Age\u201d.\u00a0 Interestingly, this is a reading that Rebecca Edwards, the author of New Spirits, also calls for in her introduction.\u00a0 However, the way in which the chapters on work and money are presented adhere to the reading that she previously criticized.<\/p>\n

For another class this week, I read primary source accounts of women\u2019s lives in Germany during the 1920\u2019s. What struck me was how much this reading echoed the New Spirits reading, providing key insight into daily life in the factory.\u00a0 Although Edwards repeatedly mentions the greater working conditions that Europeans faced in comparison to their American counterparts, the primary source accounts that I read told of hard work, long hours, and little pay.\u00a0 The comparison that I have made between early twentieth century Germany and America argue for similarities that unite beyond boarders and oceans, that unite people in the human experience.<\/p>\n

Although contemporaries were unable to see or unwilling to act on similar experiences beyond international boarders, the power of hardship and shared experience to unite is prevalent within the United States, in the Gilded Age and today. \u00a0Edwards talks about the mutual benefit associations that workers formed (67), as well as taverns as “informal working man’s clubs” (92). \u00a0This can be extended to the booster vision of the Chicago fire, and their attempts to portray the fire as a uniting event. \u00a0While it may have been exaggerated, there is usually some truth in every story. \u00a0The shared traumatic event of the fire brought together the city, at least to some extent. \u00a0To extend this to the present day, I will focus on the example that Nate brought up in class the other day about the snow storm that crippled Atlanta: while it was a hardship on everyone involved, the people pulled together and helped out. \u00a0The power of shared experience to unite is strong, and has been traditionally under estimated.<\/p>\n

I agree whole-heartedly with Nate\u2019<\/a>s point that \u201cprimary sources give us a perceptive account of historical events,\u201d and I think the example that I have brought up on the similarities that were highlighted in the primary sources nicely illustrates this point.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chapters three and four of New Spirits present an interesting, although stereotypical account of the Gilded Age, examining \u2018work\u2019 and \u2018money.\u2019 The overall impression that these chapters present is one of hardship for the masses, from brakemen to cowboys.\u00a0 This impression coincides with the traditional reading of the Gilded Age as a time of corruption … <\/p>\n

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