Dear Steve Jobe,
I would like to recommend your taking a look at Susan Gillman's
_Dark Twins: Imposture and Identity in Mark Twain's America_ (1989, U. of
Chicago P.). Even if you don't agree with everything Gillman has to say in
this New Historicist work, her bibliography is a great source of information
on the history and social mores of the Gilded Age.
Good luck on your search,
Bonnie Lee Howard
[log in to unmask]