At the turn of the 20th century, the U.S. was in the midst of a significant and rapid transformation. Industrialization was creating new wealth for those it favored, sprawling cities were replacing rural towns as the centers of American life, and an entirely new layer of society was emerging between the working class and the hereditary rich.  This was the American middle class — a term already in use in the 18th century, albeit subject to various definitions — and it was a group defined not just by what people earned, but also by how ...Read More