Scoundrels, Scalawags, and Do-Gooders

The 1890s was the tail end of the Gilded Age that began with the coming of industrialization after the Civil War. It was not a “Golden Age,” it was gilded—a veneer, and peeled back the age’s façade to reveal the structure that was supporting society. The 1890s were called “The Gay Nineties,” which is a bit of a misnomer. There was a high degree of gaiety but it was generally reserved for the top ten percenters. If you were a common working stiff—or worse, a common working woman— life was not so gay. The average New Yorker went about his daily life playing by the rules of the game in the 1890s. Some might have cheated a little, but they were only a little worse than scalawags. Other individuals, along with the managements of some businesses and some administrations of the municipality, played by totally different rules, successfully gaming the system to their advantage and to the disadvantage of countless others. These are the stories told by John Tauranac in New York’s Scoundrels and Scalawags.