A Hazard of New Fortunes

William Dean Howells (1837 - 1920)

Howell’s novel is set in New York of the late nineteenth century, a city familiar to readers of Edith Wharton and Henry James. Basil March, a businessman from Boston of a literary bent, moves with his family to New York to edit a new journal founded by an acquaintance. Its financial support, however, comes from a Mr. Dryfoos, a Pennsylvania Dutch farmer suddenly become millionaire by the discovery of natural gas on his property, and now living in New York with his family in a style he hopes will befit his new wealth.

Is it his new fortune that presents a hazard? Or is it the new wealth of New York City in the Gilded Age? Both March and his literary creator are increasingly aware of some of the social and economic contradictions that beset the city of the time (though some of Howell’s analysis sounds as if it well might fit New York today). Characters such as, among others, Dryfoos’s children, a German socialist immigrant who fought for the Union cause, an impoverished Southern colonel still persuaded that a reformed slavery might work, a young woman drawn from the upper reaches of Old New York society, help to enrich the story and its setting with their differing viewpoints. ( Nicholas Clifford)

Genre(s): Literary Fiction

Language: English

Section Chapter Reader Time
Play 00 Bibliographical Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 01 Part First I Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 02 II Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 03 III Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 04 IV Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 05 V Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 06 VI Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 07 VII Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 08 VIII Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 09 VIX Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 10 X Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 11 XI Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 12 XII Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 13 Part Second I Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 14 II Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 15 III Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 16 IV Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 17 V Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 18 VI Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 19 VII Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 20 VIII Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 21 IX Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 22 X Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 23 XI Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 24 XII Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 25 XIII Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 26 XIV Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 27 Part Third I Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 28 I Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 29 II Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 30 III Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 31 IV Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 32 V Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 33 VI Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 34 VII Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 35 VIII Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 36 Part Fourth I Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 37 II Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 38 III Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 39 IV Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 40 V Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 41 VI Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:33:43
Play 42 VII Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 43 VIII Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:20:25
Play 44 IX Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:30:53
Play 45 Part Fifth I Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:26:15
Play 46 II Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:29:33
Play 47 III Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:13:30
Play 48 IV Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 49 V Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 50 VI Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 51 VII Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 52 VIII Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:12:33
Play 53 IX Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 54 X Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:12:24
Play 55 XI Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 56 XII Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 57 XIII Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 58 XIV Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 59 XV Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 60 XVI Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 61 XVII Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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Play 62 XVIII Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
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