Why read The Age of Acrimony?

Book cover of The Age of Acrimony: How Americans Fought to Fix Their Democracy, 1865-1915

Book description

A penetrating, character-filled history “in the manner of David McCullough” (WSJ), revealing the deep roots of our tormented present-day politics.

Democracy was broken. Or that was what many Americans believed in the decades after the Civil War. Shaken by economic and technological disruption, they sought safety in aggressive, tribal partisanship.…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Age of Acrimony as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Deborah Lincoln

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And now to nonfiction. For anyone who savors the study of history as a prelude to the present, this is the book to read. The Gilded Age, rife with economic and technologic disruptions and the clash between the ever-richer and the always-poor, driven by industrial juggernauts and riven by raucous, violent politics—to understand the era and see the roots of many of today’s issues, this book is a must.

From Deborah's list on The best books on the glittering gilded age and its seamier side.