In President Donald Trump’s idealized framing, the United States was at its zenith in the 1890s. The Republican has said repeatedly, “We were at our richest from 1870 to 1913.

The desire to recreate the Gilded Age is fueled by Trump’s fondness for tariffs. It’s also why he praises the nation’s 25th ...

A friend to powerful industrialists, this left him with ... Rockefeller himself, the king of the robber barons. “I would not have accepted (that) post,” King said when under fire, “had ...

Many contemporary politicians were openly influenced by the famed robber barons, builders of monopolies ... it was carte blanche for retailers and industrialists who basically jacked up their ...