Library Journal Review of Greed in the Gilded Age

Hazelgrove (Sally Rand: American Sex Symbol) chronicles the life and crimes of Cassie Chadwick, who, during the Gilded Age, scammed bankers out of millions of dollars, causing one bank failure and leading to the death of the head of a bank. Chadwick convinced prominent bankers, attorneys, and a reverend that she was the illegitimate daughter of industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie; she even dropped by Carnegie's home to pretend to retrieve promissory notes. When her scam came to light, she was prosecuted; the ensuing trial generated so much press that Carnegie himself sat in to observe. Hazelgrove vividly sets the scene, drawing intriguing parallels and contrasts between Carnegie and Chadwick—Carnegie ruthlessly punished striking workers who were protesting unsafe working conditions, while Chadwick broke the law in the pursuit of wealth, yet only Chadwick was held accountable. The delightfully sensationalist writing ("questions that rained down like nails into his soul") evokes the yellow journalism of the era. VERDICT Readers curious about the Gilded Age or who enjoy stories of con artists will appreciate Hazelgrove's lively tale of a most ambitious grifter.—Karen Sandlin Silverman Library Journal

WHY THE GILDED AGE STILL FASCINATES US

It was a time of a enormous change for one thing. Untaxed money for another. And there were villans and robber barons and there was Cassie Chadwick. She was a con woman who claimed to be the illigitimate daughter of Andrew Carnegie and she lived on millions for years before the police caught up to her and she was tried for conspiracy to defraud a bank. Her trial was so popular it knocked the inauguration of Teddy Roosevelt off the front pages. But the opulance of this age as evidence in the HBO show The Gilded Age is astounding. For the first time America had a monied class built off the toil of people who worked in factories and foundaries and made the very few wealthy at the expense of the very many. It is during this time America came of age. The railroads allowed national markets to flower and bring goods to a national market. All those rail lines built during the Civil War to move troops could now move goods to market. And they did. For the first time local markets were eclipsed for a distant place where few would ever meet the people buying their wheat, tomatoes, corn, tobacco. Wage Slaves and Conspicuous Consumption were two terms born at the same time. Americans now would sell their time for a wage and become slaves to ten hour work days and six day weeks. There were no child labor laws. Childen died in foundaries and mills by the dozens. There were no rules at all except that the fabulous new class of the rich could do whatever they wanted. And yet it was a time of the building of the Statue of Liberty which had trouble finding funding. The Brooklyn Bridge where men died in droves from the bends. The corrupt election of Rutherford B Hayes which makes what Donald Trump tried to pull off small time. And there was Andrew Carnegie who wrote a book called Wealth where he tried to decide why he should have so much when others had so little. He didnt beleive in hard work and only worked four hours a day. So that wasn't it. He finally decided it was luck. Being at the right place at the right time. That right time was when the Civil War ended in 1865 and Titanic sunk in 1912. That time was called The Gilded Age.