Flappers & Fiction

There was a time when John Jacob Astor was the solitary millionaire on Manhattan Island, but the post-war era changed the very definition of wealth. This chronicle explores the exploding fortunes of the Gilded Age, moving from the reticent Astors who hoarded real estate to the Vanderbilts with their fast trotters and French châteaux. It captures the distinct personalities behind the checkbooks, including the Commodore’s rough edges and Jay Gould’s silent chess games, painting a vivid picture of a city where vast fortunes seemed to spring up between showers.

We often imagine the great Victorian writers scribbling away in velvet smoking jackets, sustained entirely by their genius. But this candid 1892 essay shatters that romantic illusion with brutal financial facts. From Hawthorne’s years in the customs house to Longfellow’s reliance on a wealthy marriage, the text chronicles exactly how America’s literary lions actually paid the bills. It is a fascinating, slightly gossipy look at the “wages of literature” that proves even the greatest geniuses needed a day job, or perhaps a patron, to keep the ink flowing.