Readers of Ephemeral New York have probably figured out that the Gilded Age is one of my favorite periods in the city’s history.
In the decades after the Civil War, Gotham was on the rise, transforming from a small-scale city lit by gas and powered by horses into a mighty metropolis of skyscrapers, subways, blazing electric light, and rapid social change.
The Gilded Age in New York, 1870-1910 (published by Black Dog & Leventhal/Hachette, September 2016) takes a deeper dive into this fascinating era, exploring what day-to-day life was like in an age of posh Fifth Avenue mansions and crowded tenements; of deep political corruption and a widening gap between rich and poor.
The book itself is available on various book sites and of course in stores.
Thank you to everyone who enjoys reading Ephemeral New York as much as I love researching and writing every post. It’s been a complete pleasure to produce the site for all these years, and I’m so grateful to have so many gracious and insightful readers.
Ephemeral New York 
July 11, 2016 at 8:01 am |
Congratulations from Berlin – every single post on your blog is a delight to read. The book will be duly pre-ordered:-)
July 11, 2016 at 8:08 am |
Thank you so much! I always look forward to your insightful comments and quips, notmsparker!
July 11, 2016 at 8:58 am |
I second what notmsparker says, from Groningen, the Netherlands.
Congratulations!
July 11, 2016 at 11:40 am |
Thanks for posting this. I’ve loved your posts about New York. This book was an instant preorder. Thanks!
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July 11, 2016 at 12:20 pm |
Congratulations on the second book. I enjoy all of your posts!
July 11, 2016 at 12:59 pm |
Congrats on what looks like a lovely book that I want to own. Yours is one of the best blogs ever, even though reading it so often makes me wish for a time machine so I could go back to an earlier New York.
July 11, 2016 at 1:42 pm |
Thank you all!
July 11, 2016 at 1:43 pm |
Congratulations, that´s a great achievement for you and for each of us who read your post like eating a dessert
July 11, 2016 at 1:50 pm |
Can’t wait to read this! Hope you have a book signing too!
July 11, 2016 at 4:16 pm |
Thank you, we are planning events now, so I’ll keep you posted!
July 13, 2016 at 2:02 pm
You just made my morning – thanks! I will look forward to it!
July 11, 2016 at 1:55 pm |
Looking forward to this book. Wanted to reach out to you as I have a tour company in NYC and our Gilded Age Tour is very popular. Wanted to talk to you about some ways to do some cross promotion. If there a number I can reach you at . Sincerely Kevin
July 11, 2016 at 4:17 pm |
Thanks Kevin, sounds great, I’ll reach out to you shortly!
July 11, 2016 at 2:01 pm |
Reblogged this on wack60585 and commented:
A must read …
July 11, 2016 at 2:30 pm |
Yeah! I didn’t even know you had a first book, so now I will buy both of them!! I love, love, love your posts!
July 11, 2016 at 2:46 pm |
Born in 1938 in Brooklyn, lived there for 55 years, relocated to AZ in 1995. Ephemeral keeps me connected to my NYC history. Congrats and good luck with the new book. Thanks for your blog. I look forward to the weekly postings.
July 11, 2016 at 3:41 pm |
Marvelous — a second book about a grand place during a grand era. ! I live in the middle of the country / rarely go to NYC, but that doesn’t mean I don’t find the place of interest. So, if I am ‘typical,’ you have a huge market of readership not only for your blog but the new edition too!
I am ‘computer toopid’ and don’t know where to find your direct address. I have loooooong wanted to drop you a note suggesting you do a blog on NYC FIRE ESCAPES — affixed to the exterior of buildings. Some of these more vintage ‘safety utility structures’ offer beautiful designs. I hope you will consider looking at them more closely and will gather material for a blog feature.
Again, super news about your book — hope it is a Sell-Out!
July 11, 2016 at 4:18 pm |
Thanks AB-S! I always look forward to hearing from you. You can contact me at Ephemeralnewyork @ gmail dot com.
I have so many fire escape images ready for a post specifically on their utility and design. Coming soon!
July 11, 2016 at 4:19 pm |
What a reception–thank you all.
July 11, 2016 at 5:00 pm |
Congratulations! Your new book is already the #1 New Release in Photography History on Amazon. It’s an Amazon “Hot New Release”. I loved your first book and have already pre-ordered this new one. Can’t wait to sit down, relax, and read it cover-to-cover.
July 11, 2016 at 5:04 pm |
[…] Ephemeral New York has a new book! […]
July 11, 2016 at 5:34 pm |
YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY
On Mon, Jul 11, 2016 at 3:59 AM, Ephemeral New York wrote:
> ephemeralnewyork posted: “Readers of Ephemeral New York have probably > figured out that the Gilded Age is one of my favorite periods in the city’s > history. In the decades after the Civil War, Gotham was on the rise, > transforming from a small-scale city lit by gas and powered by ho” >
July 11, 2016 at 6:04 pm |
Yay! Can’t wait!
July 11, 2016 at 10:38 pm |
Great news! Your first book is a lot of fun.
The recent blog posts have been especially interesting! I see Manhattan through different eyes since I started reading your blog. Looking forward to this latest effort.
July 12, 2016 at 4:43 am |
So glad you liked it and that you now see New York from a more Gilded Age perspective!
July 12, 2016 at 11:45 am |
I can’t wait to read it!
July 14, 2016 at 10:32 am |
Huzzah.
July 18, 2016 at 8:14 am |
[…] more about the early days of Gotham’s professional firefighters, check out The Gilded Age in New York, 1870-1910, available for preorder now and in bookstores September […]
July 25, 2016 at 5:33 am |
[…] The rise in leisure time in New York after the Civil War spawned a sports craze in the metropolis, which is richly covered in The Gilded Age in New York, 1870-1910. […]
August 4, 2016 at 6:21 am |
[…] The Gilded Age in New York, 1870-1910, delves into it the city’s grief as well as Booth’s connections to New York City. […]
August 8, 2016 at 8:36 am |
[…] Read more about the High Bridge and how the bridge and the riverfront below it became a favorite recreation area in the late 19th century in The Gilded Age in New York, 1870-1910. […]
August 15, 2016 at 4:42 am |
[…] greed, lust, corruption—the Gilded Age was one of notorious crimes and murder trials, as The Gilded Age in New York, 1870-1910, available now for preorder, lays […]
August 22, 2016 at 8:06 am |
[…] The cycling craze wasn’t the only sports trend to hit New York in the 1890s. Baseball, tennis, boxing—find out more in Ephemeral New York’s upcoming book, The Gilded Age in New York, 1870-1910. […]
August 22, 2016 at 6:07 pm |
Reblogged this on Avis the Artist.
August 29, 2016 at 5:33 am |
[…] See the amazing photos in Ephemeral New York’s upcoming book, The Gilded Age in New York, 1870-1910. […]
September 8, 2016 at 4:41 am |
[…] New York would like to announce a few public events focused around the upcoming release, THE GILDED AGE IN NEW YORK, 1870-1910. Hope to see everyone there! More talks and tours are in the works […]
September 12, 2016 at 8:14 am |
[…] Find out more about how women’s roles began to change in The Gilded Age in New York, 1870-1910. […]
September 26, 2016 at 5:24 am |
[…] who set out to improve housing for poor and working class New Yorkers in The Gilded Age in New York, 1870-1910, in stores […]
October 3, 2016 at 5:36 am |
[…] did Five Points become so awful? Find out more in The Gilded Age in New York, 1870-1910, on sale […]
October 3, 2016 at 5:37 am |
[…] images of the growing city bathed in electric light can be found in The Gilded Age in New York, 1870-1910, on sale […]
October 6, 2016 at 8:34 pm |
As I related in my personal memoir on the world famous clairvoyant, Ingo Swann, a friend of some eleven years while I lived in Manhattan, we often took long walks in the city below 14th Street and he regaled me with amazing stories of his last incarnation during the period now known as The Gilded Age. The memoir is entitled, Ingo Swann, Man of Miracles and can be read via Amazon Kindle. In my view, the period lasted until the break out of WWI, not 1910. Few historians will or can agree. It’s an arbitrary date.
October 17, 2016 at 6:10 am |
[…] out The Gilded Age in New York, 1870-1910, for more on the history of the New York […]
October 31, 2016 at 5:16 am |
[…] For more on the fun and frivolity of late 19th century society, check out The Gilded Age in New York, 1870-1910. […]
November 7, 2016 at 3:59 am |
[…] Read about the Plot to Burn Down New York City in The Gilded Age in New York, 1870-1910. […]
November 21, 2016 at 8:42 am |
[…] Find out more about the rough and tumble early days of the FDNY, when the volunteer companies also served as social and political clubs, in The Gilded Age in New York, 1870-1910. […]
December 19, 2016 at 8:24 am |
[…] lighting in a park—New York pioneered many of the holiday celebrations we take part in today, as The Gilded Age in New York, 1870-1910, […]
January 2, 2017 at 9:01 am |
[…] For more about what it was like to arrive in New York City as an immigrant in the 19th and early 20th centuries—first at Castle Garden, then at Ellis Island—check out The Gilded Age in New York, 1870-1910. […]
January 16, 2017 at 8:32 am |
[…] The Gilded Age in New York includes these excerpts from King’s diary—as well as diary excerpts from other New Yorkers of the era. Many thanks to the NYPL for permission to cite the text in the book. […]
February 20, 2017 at 7:24 am |
[…] Hyde’s extravagant, excessive ball and the subsequent scandal make a fitting coda for the end of the Gilded Age . . . which is explored in depth and illustrated lavishly in The Gilded Age in New York, 1870-1910. […]
March 6, 2017 at 6:30 am |
[…] and the tenements they’re associated with are icons of late 19th century metropolis, and The Gilded Age in New York, 1870-1910 offers a first-person feel for what it was like to live in […]
March 13, 2017 at 6:00 am |
[…] Exiled Cuban journalist Jose Marti chronicled the storm from his New York home for an Argentinian newspaper—capturing the mood of the city paralyzed by snow in poetic, descriptive prose, more of which you can read in The Gilded Age in New York, 1870-1910. […]
April 14, 2017 at 6:17 am |
[…] The Gilded Age in New York, 1870-1910, has more on the humble beginnings of New York’s favorite holidays. […]
May 15, 2017 at 6:59 am |
[…] The Gilded Age in New York, 1870-1910, has more on some of the city’s most iconic 19th century residences and commercial buildings. […]
May 22, 2017 at 6:54 am |
[…] The Gilded Age in New York, 1870-1910, has more on the Gilded Age city’s most notorious murders. […]
June 19, 2017 at 6:16 am |
[…] For more about the building of Central Park and the park’s early years, read The Gilded Age in New York, 1870-1910. […]
September 4, 2017 at 3:12 am |
[…] For more on the crimes and tragedies that rocked the Gilded Age city, read The Gilded Age in New York, 1870-1910. […]
September 11, 2017 at 5:55 am |
[…] The Gilded Age was an era of excessive money—and crazy-sensational fads. Find out more in New York in the Gilded Age, 1870-1910. […]
October 2, 2017 at 6:10 am |
[…] For more on legendary Gilded Age mansions and hotels in New York City, check out The Gilded Age in New York, 1870-1910. […]
October 9, 2017 at 5:03 am |
[…] That’s the East Village to this day: a constant push-pull between old timers and newcomers. Find out more about both in The Gilded Age in New York, 1870-1910. […]
October 16, 2017 at 5:04 am |
[…] The photo archive at the GVSHP site has some interior shots as well. For more on the Gilded Age city’s brownstone craze and James Renwick’s architectural gems, take a look through The Gilded Age in New York, 1870-1910. […]
November 6, 2017 at 4:56 am |
[…] Gilded Age in New York 1870-1910 has a lot more on the suffrage movement from a New York City vantage […]
November 27, 2017 at 8:13 am |
[…] The Gilded Age in New York, 1870-1910, has more on the enormous popularity of the city’s theaters. […]
December 11, 2017 at 6:47 am |
[…] The Gilded Age in New York, 1870-1910, has more photos and stories of what a New York Christmas was like for the poor, rich, and emerging middle classes. […]
December 11, 2017 at 7:56 am |
[…] The Gilded Age in New York, 1870-1910, has more photos and stories of what a New York Christmas was like for the poor, rich, and emerging middle classes. […]
December 11, 2017 at 8:23 am |
[…] The Gilded Age in New York, 1870-1910, has more photos and stories of what a New York Christmas was like for the poor, rich, and emerging middle classes. […]
December 18, 2017 at 6:42 am |
[…] The Gilded Age in New York, 1870-1910 has lots more about how New Yorkers invented the contemporary Christmas: the first public park tree lighting happened in Madison Square Park, electric lights were invented by a New Yorker, and the grand department stores of Ladies Mile claim the first holiday window displays. […]
October 16, 2018 at 1:45 pm |
Esther,
Since you posted a piece yesterday about my 1970’s Halloween photos, I’ve received several very pleasant emails.
Thank you.
Larry R
October 16, 2018 at 6:49 pm |
Thank you for your kind note; I’m so glad more people are aware of your wonderful photos and took the time to contact you personally. As you can see, these here have really struck the readers of ENY.
December 11, 2018 at 5:12 am |
[…] The Gilded Age in New York, 1870-1910 has lots more about how New Yorkers invented the contemporary Christmas: the first public park tree lighting happened in Madison Square Park, electric lights were invented by a New Yorker, and the grand department stores of Ladies Mile claim the first holiday window displays. […]
August 1, 2019 at 4:24 pm |
Reblogged this on Historicals With A Twist and commented:
As a historical novelist, I’ve written several books set in NYC through the centuries, and just purchased THE GILDED AGE. Looking forward to it! dianarubinoauthor.blogspot.com
August 1, 2019 at 7:14 pm |
Diana, I hope you enjoy it!
August 15, 2019 at 11:32 pm |
My wife owns this book. I had the great pleasure of reading it over the past few months and enjoyed it immensely. I didn’t know until I saw this post that you were the author. Thank you so much for creating such a wonderful work!
August 16, 2019 at 2:02 pm |
So glad you liked it, Bill!
February 8, 2022 at 9:28 am |
Love reading about The Victorian era. It always fascinated me. Of course it is part of the history of our country. The haves and the have nots..amazed to learn someone from that era died just 10 years ago..thank you for the such details and the true story of how it was.. loving all history, I thoroughly enjoyed it..
March 18, 2023 at 12:01 pm |
I loved all the pictures.Are there any of upper West side.