Buy new:
$18.95
FREE delivery: Wednesday, April 24 on orders over $35.00 shipped by Amazon.
Ships from: Amazon.com
Sold by: Amazon.com
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
FREE delivery Wednesday, April 24 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35. Order within 16 hrs 19 mins
Only 10 left in stock (more on the way).
$$18.95 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$18.95
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
Amazon.com
Ships from
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Payment
Secure transaction
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime
FREE delivery Wednesday, April 24 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35. Order within 16 hrs 19 mins
Used: Acceptable | Details
Sold by Direct Swap
Condition: Used: Acceptable
Comment: Satisfaction guaranteed. Ships from Amazon.
Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.
Other Sellers on Amazon
Added
$18.00
& FREE Shipping
Sold by: ZBK Books
Sold by: ZBK Books
(16563 ratings)
88% positive over last 12 months
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
Shipping rates and Return policy
Added
$14.95
+ $3.99 shipping
Sold by: SuperBookDeals---
Sold by: SuperBookDeals---
(41582 ratings)
72% positive over last 12 months
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
Shipping rates and Return policy
Added
$23.62
& FREE Shipping
Sold by: GF Books, Inc.
Sold by: GF Books, Inc.
(11412 ratings)
83% positive over last 12 months
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
Shipping rates and Return policy
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Age of Betrayal: The Triumph of Money in America, 1865-1900 Paperback – Illustrated, April 8, 2008

4.4 out of 5 stars 57

{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$18.95","priceAmount":18.95,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"18","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"95","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"eG6zaERzx0R4GcxYrMjx80xmQYkUkZowXUAZ%2BSt6uJ0mPoLxmyUv883VAZo%2BaiydmDUZn8AXNgBNYkWpT81qeoFGkHHIo5mLH3Toh2zM96pNUkaKQLwemP9blEWTWQ4E9guxs9bzcws%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}, {"displayPrice":"$14.35","priceAmount":14.35,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"14","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"35","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"eG6zaERzx0R4GcxYrMjx80xmQYkUkZowYQUzpnYZ%2FP1RZId%2Bq2c4%2FleP93%2FXutLevmAoGO8%2BO18Hk%2BwoTSfnYWyPq2quwpujKlJwr3mwBede990gjpjwvnRngIGTXWZMHXyFtjSh5uz4z%2F18pdjb25Oor4QoPIYmU%2Fjtc6hIW76BMeLnqPIoUk63of8CH6Qg","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":1}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

Age of Betrayal is a brilliant reconsideration of America's first Gilded Age, when war-born dreams of freedom and democracy died of their impossibility. Focusing on the alliance between government and railroads forged by bribes and campaign contributions, Jack Beatty details the corruption of American political culture that, in the words of Rutherford B. Hayes, transformed “a government of the people, by the people, and for the people” into “a government by the corporations, of the corporations, and for the corporations.” A passionate, gripping, scandalous and sorrowing history of the triumph of wealth over commonwealth.

The Amazon Book Review
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now

Frequently bought together

$18.95
Get it as soon as Wednesday, Apr 24
Only 10 left in stock (more on the way).
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
$11.99
Get it as soon as Wednesday, Apr 24
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
$12.47
Get it as soon as Thursday, Apr 25
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
Sold by Solve Books and ships from Amazon Fulfillment.
Total price:
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Details
Added to Cart
Some of these items ship sooner than the others.
Choose items to buy together.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“An engaging, responsible and compelling book. It offers an excellent introduction to the epic saga of late 19th-century America and an important message for our own time.” —The San Diego Union-Tribune“Illuminated and enlivened. . . . [Beatty's] ability to hot-wire our history to the here and now is what gives Age of Betrayal its distinctive bite.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review“Readers will immediately by impressed by the range of subject matter he can handle, from political, economic, and constitutional history to the history of labor, social movements and time. . . . Absorbing in its detail and refreshingly uncompromising in its perspective.” —The Boston Globe.“A shocking, heart-breaking account of corruption and just plain meanness.” —The Providence Journal

About the Author

Jack Beatty is a senior editor of The Atlantic and news analyst for On Point, the national NPR news and public affairs program. His book The Rascal King on legendary Boston mayor James Michael Curley won an American Book Award, was shortlisted for the NBCC award, and was one of USA Today's 10 Best Books of the Year. He was the editor of Colossus, a book on corporations, which was named one of the 10 Best Business Books of the Year by Business Week. He was a Poynter Fellow at Yale, the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, two Alfred P. Sloan Foundation research grants, a William Allen White Award for Criticism, and shared an Olive Branch Award for an Atlantic article on arms control. He lectures frequently throughout the country.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Vintage (April 8, 2008)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 512 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1400032423
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1400032426
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.4 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.21 x 1.07 x 8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 out of 5 stars 57

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Jack Beatty
Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
57 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2010
This is a superb book, with the kind of historical information from which American history should be taught at the college level. Although this book takes some work to understand, it is worth the effort for every citizen who would like to understand America. And the Author makes it possible to understand - the book's greatest virtue.

The research is meticulous and the Author's writing skills and analyses make it possible to see the real economic development of the United States. We get an understanding of the interplay between uncontrolled greed and corrupt government through which our railroads were built and other industries devloped. The endless advantages conferred upon private corporations, how investors were frequently swindled, how millions of acres of land were given away, the amazing scope of the fraud perpetrated, all in the name of the economic development of our nation. The growing nation needed railroads, of course, and unparalled economic growth was inevitable in a country as blessed as ours was with natural resources, technological advancement and unlimited territory. But this book raises the question of who this country is for. Lincoln's idea of government FOR the people was lost in an orgy of corporate fraud and favoritism that is still hard to believe.
The best thing I got out of this book is a perspective on what has been going on in our economy in the past decade. Banking and business is so in control of our government that now government just gives hundreds of billions away when modern versions of fraud threaten to virtually destroy the economy. A trillion dollars has been spent to bail out the banks and businesses that have failed us as a nation. The perspective to which I refer is that these actions are merely the modern extenion of fraud and favoritism made possible by business control of government. We spent a TRILLION DOLLARS to enable business to provides war services ancillary to combat in Iraq; and, if we consider Blackwater and other security services, even combat was contracted. How did we win WWII without this system? The Bush administration gave another trillion in tax cuts for the wealthy. Of course, we cannot afford universal health care; we encourage investment by U. S. companies in other countries; the working classes are so hard hit by declining income and now by rescession that local tax revenues no longer adequately support public services; and we vote our fears and prejudices, if we vote at all.

It seems that every time corrupt business interests bring the economy to its knees, the "people" are there to restore vitality to America. Can we do it again? I wonder.
11 people found this helpful
Report
Reviewed in the United States on July 8, 2023
Outstanding product and fast delivery. Thank you.
One person found this helpful
Report
Reviewed in the United States on October 12, 2013
There is no doubt that Beatty has written an important book. The problem lies in his style of writing: In many places it is opaque, pure and simple. He jumps around to new themes with no warning, let alone an appropriatee introduction. It is perhaps the most opaque style I have ever read.
One person found this helpful
Report
Reviewed in the United States on December 26, 2017
It’s safe to say that the period from 1860-1900 was by far the most transformational in American history. That is not the author’s point, per se, but he does focus on the rise of powerful financial forces, namely corporations, which scarcely existed in 1865, and what that meant to American life. After Lincoln’s presidency and the defeat of the South, America was supposedly primed to be a land of free labor and democracy, the ideal citizen being the small shop owner.

The author makes clear: that is not what happened. The railroads became the most powerful force in America, dominating the economy and most layers of government. The land giveaways defy belief. The independent worker ceased to exist as large entities took control over many sectors of the economy. In perhaps the most unconscionable chapter in American history, the planter class in the South began a regime of suppression and terror towards the freedmen that lasted nearly one hundred years. Attempts to counter corporate power through unions or the Populist Party met with fierce resistance. Often the courts turned statutes upside down to favor powerful interests.

There is much to cover in this era. The book has a bit of a scattershot feel to it, not terribly well organized and undoubtedly far from complete. Nonetheless, one can hardly escape the feeling that the empowered citizen worker had by 1900 become only a figment of imagination.
8 people found this helpful
Report
Reviewed in the United States on June 19, 2008
Good economic history...not an easy read but if you are interested in post Civil War economics and the Guilded Age this book covers the subject very well. Most of the people who would be interested in this book are already well versed in the history of this era and this text may provive them with some detail tid bits that they were not aware of.

The book looks at mainly the administrations of Grant, Hayes, Authur and Cleveland and their relationships with Wall Street and the Rail Roads. One obsecure individual that is talked about is Tom Scott of the Penn. Central RR and his corruption of Congress. The major evens like the Great Rail Strike, Pullman Strike, The Hay Market, Homestead Steel are all covered in rather great detainl and make for interesting reading when taken in context with the political enviroments that created them.

If your taste runs with top selling histories writen by scribes for hire who think nothing of plagiarism and retelling the same old myths we were told in school, pass this book by. This is history the way it should be.
6 people found this helpful
Report
Reviewed in the United States on October 30, 2012
This is a great history about the betrayal of democracy that erased the democratic advances (emancipation, 13th-16th Amendments, Reconstruction) that the U.S. earned through the Civil War and up to 1877, when Congress conceded the country to the wealthy corporations and unabashedly accepted payment for it. Beatty meets every requirement of academic historians, including the use of a wide variety of primary and secondary sources, a cogent analysis of historical forces, and the development of a consistent theme throughout the period of 1865 and 1900, when Congress and the the Executive essentially betrayed all but the wealthiest in America. His critique of the hegemonic powers of the narrowing group of oligarchs during the Gilded Age is incisive and refreshingly unapologetic. A small number of Americans cheated their way to power and wealth, and that pattern has returned to visibility of late. As such, Beatty's book resonates disturbingly during this campaign season of 2012.
5 people found this helpful
Report

Top reviews from other countries

MR THOMAS M HUNTER
5.0 out of 5 stars Great service! Definitely recommend!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 3, 2024
Great service!