American Writers (One Hundred Pages at a Time)

Finale of my review of THE GILDED AGE by Mark Twain. While not one his most popular novels, I think this one deserves a read for its important themes and reflections on American capitalism and politics.

In this episode of the Robert A. Heinlein book club, I look at this odd little story "A Bathroom of Her Own," a non-science fiction tale of housing and politics.

Now we need to deal with two sussy colonels in this novel? Colonel Sellers and Colonel Selby team-up to extract love and money from post-Civil War Washington. THE GILDED AGE by Mark Twain is actually a pretty underrated novel.

We wrap up our pre-war coverage of Heinlein's works with WALDO, a fitting story to complete the Anson MacDonald ASTOUNDING period of Heinlein's career. It hits so many of the themes Heinlein had been playing with since he started writing.

In this episode I mostly look at Heinlein's short story "My Object All Sublime" but also mention "Pied Piper". These forgettable tales may have some thematic interest regarding vigilantes and total war.

Part two of my review of THE GILDED AGE by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner. This part of the novel moves our focus to the national level and exposes how deep the corruption in the nation ran.

"... Jonathan Hoag" is a great Robert A. Heinlein story that keeps getting me to think about and talk about Philip K. Dick. I loved it.

Part one of my review of the underrated novel THE GILDED AGE, by Mark Twain and another guy. It is one of the most sturdy investigations into America's political and economic culture. Sellers and Hawkins got something for you to buy.

"Goldfish Bowl" by Robert A. Heinlein is almost a H. P. Lovecraft story. One of his best pieces of short fiction that I read from him.

With this final episode on FOLLOWING THE EQUATOR, I finish up with Mark Twain's travel literature. Coming up is THE GILDED AGE and his later novels.