Due to the generosity of Lou Budd, who kindly sent me a copy of the new Penguin edition of THE GILDED AGE, I benefited tonight from the insights Lou made in his introduction for that volume. As I presume some Twainian will get the nod to write a review of the edition for the Forum, I won't say much here except to note all Forum members will want a copy, if for no other reason, than because the Mark Twain Forum is mentioned. (Lou refers to our discussion on the origin of the book's title.) Our own Kevin Bochynski is thanked for his tracking down the use of THE GILDED AGE in other Twain volumes. While Lou claims purists will prefer the Oxford version, students will likely find the Penguin edition more useful because of the supplementary material. Lou's intro focuses on reader responses to the book, from the wives of the authors to contemporary critics to modern readers, illustrating why the novel is still important and readable. Along the way, he says much about Warner's role in the process as well as including many paragraphs of critical analysis of the text. One quick reference caught my eye when Lou mentioned Henry Adams DEMOCRACY, a book I think of automatically when pondering "The Gilded Age" as a historical period. So I offer this topic for discussion: does anyone have any compare/contrast ideas on the two novels or any similar compare/contrast ideas about other politically oriented novels of the era by other writers?