Ragtime

Ragtime is a 1975 novel by E. L. Doctorow. This work of historical fiction is mostly set in New York City from about 1900 until the United States entry into World War I in 1917. A unique adaptation of the historical narrative genre, the novel blends three fictional American families and various actual historical figures into a framework that revolves around events, characters and ideas important in U.S. history. Time magazine included the novel i... more

Ragtime is a 1975 novel by E. L. Doctorow. This work of historical fiction is mostly set in New York City from about 1900 until the United States entry into World War I in 1917. A unique adaptation of the historical narrative genre, the novel blends three fictional American families and various actual historical figures into a framework that revolves around events, characters and ideas important in U.S. history. Time magazine included the novel in its TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005. The novel opens in the year 1906, in the town of New Rochelle, New York, at the house of an upper class family composed of Mother, Father, and the little boy. Mother's Younger Brother falls in love with the famous beauty Evelyn Nesbit, whose husband Harry Kendall Thaw has recently been charged with the murder of her ex-lover, architect Stanford White. Harry Houdini's car breaks down in front of the family's house, and he pays them a visit. Father leaves on a trip to the Arctic with... less