Honest history has a flare for the dramatic.
Jack Beatty’s “Age of Betrayal: The Triumph of Money in America” is one such history. It’s like watching an episode of the HBO series, Mad Men – corporate back-handedness at its dramatic finest, but without the veneer of charismatic suaveness to soften the ruthlessness.

The author’s history begins at the start of the Civil War, pushes through Reconstruction, and centers itself in America’s ‘Gilded Age’ – an era in history when this nation, torn by the tragedy of war, was most impressionable

As corporate money infiltrated the ranks of government and the press, says Beatty, it floundered the opportunity to steer the country in a populist direction.

No well-written history would be compelling without excellent research. Here is an excerpt from the chapter, The Politics of the Future, page 318:

“… Senator [John J.] Ingalls revealed the cynical heart of Gilded Age politics when asked for his thoughts on the clamor for reform in Kansas… he told the New York World… ‘Government is force. Politics is a battle for supremacy… This modern can’t about the corruption of politics is fatiguing in the extreme. It proceeds from the tea-custard and syllabub dilettantism, the frivolous and desultory sentimentalism of epicenes.’”

As far as language and the book’s construction goes, Beatty’s writing shifts between sessions of concise and clear prose to incidences of chunky bits. This is to be expected, as it is a history. Expect immense amounts of details broken apart by author’s commentary and summarizing statements.

Age of Betrayal is certainly not a weekend reader. It is a little novelesque at 389 pages, excluding notes, acknowledgements and introduction. Still, the history within those pages is invaluable, unmatchable by any textbook and a must-read for anyone even minutely interested in politics.

All-around: 8/10.