Industrialism and Social Change in the Gilded Age

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Test #1 How did the industrialism impact popular culture and social classes in American society during the Gilded Age? The popular culture on the Gilded age became a very important subject due to the increase of recreations and leisure. “Most Americans knew no more about the lives of the very rich than what they read in their newspapers and magazines, and these media were developing as never before.” Readers enjoyed romantic, sentimental and love stories such as Horatio Alger, Jr. and his successful “rags to riches” young heroes; and Lew Wallace and his sensational epic success, Ben Hur.” These novels frequently offered the reader to escape from the real world. Plays were also popular in this era. “Through dime novels, themselves a modern artifact of mass production, and traveling Wild West shows such as “Buffalo Bill’s, the image impressed itself: The West as exotic romance.” “These popular fantasies appealed to a broad stratum Eastern readers for whom the West served.” Through such popular fictions, the West in its wildness retain older association with freedom, escape from social restraint, and closeness to nature. “There was …show more content…

“Boys, let’s start something to break the monotony and cheer up our mothers and girls. Let’s start a club of some kind.” These were the words of Jon C. Lester one of the members of the KKK. As we proceed reading we come to understand that act of racism wasn’t the first though but to “play impractical jokes and serenade women.” Unfortunately, the situation got out of hand and they commit several acts of violence targeting southern black

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