Читать книгу Anglo-American Cultural Studies - Jody Skinner - Страница 55
2.5 From the Gilded to the Jazz AgeJazz Age
ОглавлениеIf we set the closing of the frontier at 1890 with the Census BureauCensus Bureau’s decision to stop tracing westward movement and with the last IndianIndian battle at Wounded KneeWounded Knee, then we could start our next era in American history just before the beginning of the 20th century. The “Gilded AgeGilded Age” was definitely not a “Golden Age,” at least not for the vast majority of Americans but certainly for a selected few either praised as captains of industrycaptains of industry or damned as robber baronsrobber barons. These selected few had famous names like AstorAstor, CarnegieCarnegie, Andrew, and VanderbiltVanderbilt. The name Gilded Age, by the way, comes from the title of a novel by Mark TwainTwain, Mark (Samuel Clemens), which sarcastically [48]criticized the greed of the era. While the term Gilded Age has a negative connotation, the name Jazz AgeJazz Age is more positive and is also based on the title of a work of fiction, F. Scott FitzgeraldFitzgerald, F. Scott’s collection “Tales of the Jazz Age.”
inventions and inventorsMany of the technological advances that have forever changed the way human beings around the world live and work were first invented in the US during this time, also known as the Age of Edison, named after one of the world’s greatest inventors Thomas Alva EdisonEdison, Alva, who invented the light bulb and who also significantly improved the telephonetelephone, invented a few decades earlier by Alexander Graham BellBell, Alexander Graham. The elevator was invented earlier in the mid 19th century but improved by Werner von SiemensSiemens, Werner von and made safer by Charles OtisOtis, Charles in the late 19th century. Henry FordFord, Henry invented the Model T Ford automobile and also changed the way the world worked with his assembly lineassembly line method of production. The Gilded AgeGilded Age was the age of inventions and of hard work and of the riches earned by those who worked hard or by those who exploited others ( 6).
