A Mirror for History

A Mirror for History uses novels and art to provide a new understanding of the development of American society. The book argues that the arc of middle-class culture, between 1750 and 2020, reflects the evolution of the economy.

More By Marc Egnal:

Marc Egnal: Clash of Extremes
Marc Egnal: A Mighty Empire
Marc Egnal: Divergent Paths
Marc Egnal: New World Economies

About Marc Egnal

Marc Egnal is an American historian, who was born in Philadelphia, received his B.A. from Swarthmore College, and completed his doctorate at the University of Wisconsin.

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Egnal has ‘plowed the sea’ of American literature and produced a sweeping, piercing work endless with insight and magisterial in scope.

Junot Diaz, author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

“Egnal convincingly makes a case for how art reflects social and economic change. More than a book about novels, A Mirror for History is an original piece of historical methodology.

Andrew Hartman, author of Marx in America

A fascinating book that combines history, economics, literary criticism and distant reading to offer a sweeping portrait of the rising and falling middle class in America, by way of the ultimate middle-class art form, the novel.”

Stephen Marche, author of The Next Civil War

A Mirror for History introduces an engaging and bold new way of interpreting American social history.”

Elizabeth Abbott, author of A History of Marriage


A conversation with Marc Egnal

Marc Egnal discusses his new book “A Mirror for History”.