The first major American novel to center on a businessman, The Rise of Silas Lapham (1885) explores the capitalist ethos of the American Gilded Age. It is also a brilliant novel of manners that shows the comic confrontation of old wealth and new riches. This edition, which reprints the most authoritative text, also offers the fullest Explanatory Notes. The up-to-date Introduction explores the cultural background of the Gilded Age in America.