The Panic of 1873
Poet involved
What happened
The Panic of 1873 was a severe financial crisis that began with the failure of Jay Cooke & Company, a major American bank heavily invested in railroad financing. The crash triggered a chain reaction of bank failures, business bankruptcies, and a global depression known as the Long Depression, which lasted until 1879. The panic exposed the vulnerabilities of the post-Civil War economic boom and led to widespread unemployment and social unrest.
Literary impact
The Panic of 1873 and the ensuing Long Depression profoundly influenced American and European literature, with writers like Mark Twain and William Dean Howells exploring themes of economic insecurity, class conflict, and the dark side of the Gilded Age. The panic also shaped the poetry of the era, with works reflecting the despair and disillusionment of a society grappling with the collapse of its economic dreams. It remains a key historical context for understanding the social realism of late 19th-century literature.
Source: Wikipedia
