Edith Wharton (1862–1937), the author of such classics as The Age of Innocence, The House of Mirth, and The Custom of the Country, is best known for her 'society novels,' in which she analyzed the changing scene of fashionable American life in contrast to that of Old Europe.
In an era before the advent of electric lights, telephones or motor vehicles, there exists a small cluster of aristocratic "old revolutionary stock" families that rule New York's social life. Under the rules of this society, "being things" is better than ...[SEE MORE]