MINNEAPOLIS — Picture the fanciest party imaginable. We’re talking Vanity Fair Oscar Party meets Met Gala, with a couple of royal weddings thrown in the mix.
Fountains of champagne? Check. Platinum bracelets as parting favors? Check.
A sculpture of Hercules holding a steak on his shoulders and a monkey outfitted in a tailored suit sitting at the head of the table? Welcome to the Gilded Age.
(READ MORE: How Chattanooga fits into America’s Gilded Age)
In “The Gilded Age Cookbook: Recipes and Stories From America’s Golden Era,” author Becky Libourel Diamond gives readers a peek into the opulent ballrooms, tea parties and railroad cars where the richest of the rich — socialites, debutantes, magnates and robber barons — dined in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.