Giles Gunn, David Shi, and Robert ter Horst discuss the era known as the Gilded Age. Soundings producer Wayne Pond contextualizes this episode, saying, “In this year of presidential politics [1984], there will be much talk about America’s future, its development or decline as a social structure. But this, of course, isn’t new. One historical precedent lies in what cultural historians and critics call the Gilded Age, the period following the Civil War and leading to the turn of the twentieth century. What was the Gilded Age? How did it get its name, and what were some of its noteworthy social, political and cultural preoccupations?”
At [26:15), Robert Gingher reviews the book The History of the Idea of Progress (1980) by Robert A. Nisbet.
At the time of this interview, Gunn was professor of religion and American studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Shi, a Fellow at the National Humanities Center (1982-83), was professor of history at Davidson College. Ter Horst, also a Fellow at the Center (1982-83), was professor of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Arizona.
Gingher was an editorial writer and book reviewer in Greensboro, N.C.
This edition of Soundings was conducted by Wayne J. Pond.
