Abstract
In Chapter 3, I show that the period spanning from the Gilded Age through the New Era in the United States was remarkably similar to the present. During both periods, laws and institutions were oriented to embrace inequality by empowering minority groups in the economic realm at the expense of the majority. At the same time, the income share of the top 1 percent was rising, and, at the end of both of these periods or the farthest point reached during the current period, the income share of the top 1 percent reached a high in US history. Nondemocratic elements of our political system played a central during both periods. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.