Although there is much debate about the causes of economic inequality today, no one contests the fact or scale of it. So why question the idea of a "second Gilded Age"? Because if we are to learn from history, we must also remember that "the past is a different country." The differences between each period, in other words, may be just as important as the similarities. Steve Fraser, the author of multiple works analyzing the culture, economic life, and politics of both late 19th. and late 20th c. America, kicks off this daylong conversation, comparing the eras.
