Centering on a conflict between a self-made millionaire and an idealistic reformer in turn-of-the-twentieth-century New York, A Hazard of New Fortunes insightfully renders the complexities of the American experience at a time of great social and economic upheaval and transformation. In its depiction of wealth, poverty, and New York City life, it remains a strikingly contemporary work.

Reproduced here is the authoritative Indiana University Press Edition edited and annotated by David J. Nordloh, with full scholarly commentary and extensive textual apparatus.

Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., is a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and biographer. His many books include The Age of Jackson and A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House. He lives in New York City.

David J. Nordloh is professor of English at Indiana University. He is the general editor and textual editor of the Indiana University Press Selected Edition of William Dean Howells, published in twenty-five volumes.