Rebecca Edwards challenges the common depiction of the Gilded Age as a period dominated by “corruption, political stagnation, and malaise” by suggesting that the era should be reexamined (Edwards, 5). If she is right that we should reconsider the Gilded Age and emphasize its more mixed legacy, then how does she show it? If not then how should we think of the era?

Rebecca Edwards challenges the common depiction of the Gilded Age as a period dominated by “corruption, political stagnation, and malaise” by suggesting that the era should be reexamined (Edwards, 5). If she is right that we should reconsider the Gilded Age and emphasize its more mixed legacy, then how does she show it? If not then how should we think of the era?