The Gilded Age (2018)

The Gilded Age is a documentary film which premiered on US television (PBS) in 2018. It is an episode of the long-running program American Experience (season 30, episode 03).

What is the Gilded Age? It is a reference to US history from the end of the Civil War in 1865 to the turn of the century around the year 1900.

Here is some basic information about this film:

** Director: Sarah Colt

** Writer: Mark Zwonitzer

** Narrator: Oliver Platt

** Run time: ca 112 minutes

Many persons – mostly historians - are interviewed in the film. Here are the names (in alphabetical order):

H. W. Brands

Rebecca Edwards

Steve Fraser

Paula Giddings

Sylvia Hoffert

Richard John

Michael Kazin

T. J. Jackson Lears

Noam Maggor

David Nasaw

Edward O’Donnell

Julia Ott

Nell Irvin Painter

Susie J. Pak

John Kuo Wei Tchen

Richard White

Archive footage is used between the talking heads. Archive footage is used to illustrate historical events which are discussed in the film.

As stated above, the time frame is 1865-1900. The focus is on two groups of people:

The first group is the people who were (or who became) super rich during this period. Here are three examples:

** Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794-1877)

His main business was railway companies

** Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919)

His main business was the production of steel

** J. Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913)

He was a banker

The second group is ordinary people and some of the organisations that they established in an attempt to defend their interests. Here are two examples:

** Mary Elizabeth Lease (1850-1933)

She was a political activist who supported women’s right to vote. She is best known for her work with the People’s Party (the Populists).

** Jacob Coxy (1854-1951)

Coxy’s Army was a protest march of unemployed workers. The army was named after the organizer Jacob Coxy. The army marched to Washington, DC, in 1894

What do reviewers say about this film? On IMDb it has a rating of 74 per cent, which corresponds to (almost) four stars on Amazon.

On the US version of Amazon there are at the moment 20 reviews of this product. The average rating is 3.5 stars.

If you ask me, both these average ratings are too low. Why? As far as I can see, this film is an ABC-product: Accurate, balanced and comprehensive.

I want to go all the way to the top with this product. I think it deserves a rating of five stars.

PS. For more information about the Gilded Age, see the following books (written by authors who are interviewed in the film):

** American Colossus: 

The Triumph of Capitalism 1865-1900 

by H. W. Brands (2010)

** New Spirits: 

Americans in the Gilded Age 

by Rebecca Edwards (2005)

** The Age of Acquiescence: The Life and Death of American Resistance to Organized Wealth and Power 

by Steve Fraser (2015)

** Alva Vanderbilt by Sylvia Hoffert (2011)

** The Populist Persuasion by Michael Kazin (1995)

** Andrew Carnegie by David Nasaw (2006)

** Gentlemen Bankers: 

The World of J. P. Morgan 

by Susie J. Pak (2013)

** The Republic for Which It Stands: The United States during Reconstruction and the Gilded Age, 1865-1896 

by Richard White (2017)

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