The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today

'The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today' by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner is a satire on greed and political corruption in post-Civil War America, which gave the era its name. It tells the story of a rural family's attempts to sell their acquired land and the adventures of their adopted daughter Laura, who becomes a lobbyist in Washington, D.C. Meanwhile, two young upper-class men, Philip Sterling and Henry Brierly, embark on a journey to survey land in Tennessee for speculation. The novel is notable for being the only one Twain wrote with a collaborator and for its title becoming synonymous with corruption in public life.