Although a few sections of Mark Twain’s The Gilded Age are gratingly detailed, especially when describing the complicated humbuggery of embezzling ‘tycoons,’ this novel often reads like an Axios News analysis of our contemporary social-political state of affairs. Enhanced by Twain’s acerbic wit and sarcasm, the novel resonates in our own times as well as the period in which the story takes place. Grift, patronage, theft, and abuse of power, among many forms of corruption, dominate most interactions between major characters. Adding some love, light, and drama to the wretchedness are romantic situations among younger characters, but dark motives and … Continue reading Like Our Age