The Gilded Age (Barnes & Noble Digital Library)

This 1873 novel satirizes the hypocrisy and greed of Reconstruction-era America.  The title became synonymous with the era to later historians.  The novel has two parallel stories. One, written by Twain, concerns the efforts of a poor Tennessee family to become rich through land speculation; the other, written by Warner, tells of the money-lusting scheme of two young men.