Product Details

• Published on: 2008-04-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 316 pages

Synopsis
The Rise of Silas Lapham is a novel written by William Dean Howells in 1885 about the materialistic rise of Silas Lapham from rags to riches, and his ensuing moral susceptibility. Silas earns a fortune in the paint business, but he lacks social standards, which he tries to attain through his daughter's marriage to the aristocratic Corey family. Silas' morality does not fail him. He loses his money but makes the right moral decision when his partner proposes the unethical selling of the mills to English settlers.

Customer Reviews

19th century satire with modern relevance
I am sure that most people who read this book will do so because they are studying 19th century American fiction. But I would also recommend this to others for three reasons.Firstly, and most importantly for a satire, this is actually quite a funny novel. Secondly, the targets of its satire are diverse and still relevant today: class and status, the price to be paid both by society and individuals for economic progress, the value systems of capitalism.

Thirdly, it is a worked example of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs for anyone in need of one(MBA students?).

As an added bonus a crucial plot twist is concerned with cost accounting - and how many novels can boast that?

An absorbing, satisfying, work
Despite his tendency towards bragging - a weakness criticised most strongly by his wife and daughters - I found myself admiring Silas Lapham and his family. The novel displays Silas Lapham at the peak of his fortunes, before the last 100 or so pages deals with his painful fall. The Laphams struck me as people of great principle and I found myself bristling against the snobbishness of the parents of the established Boston family who regretted their own son's involvement with one of the Lapham daughters. A book I heartily recommend to other readers.