The Custom of the Country

Edith Wharton (1862-1937) was an American novelist and short story writer. Her works show the lives of people of the late nineteenth century, the times of decline in American history. She was the first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 1921. Wharton also was familiar with many famous people of the time, including President Theodore Roosevelt. Considered by many as a masterpiece, "The Custom of the Country" is a study of the fads and antics of the modern American upper class. It tells the story of spoiled and selfish but at the same time amazingly charming Undine Spragg, who tries to get into New York's high society. Through her life full of affairs, the book describes a social behavior of a person who is well educated and extremely disenchanted.