Great essay and analysis! Perhaps the best book about this time peroid is Wharton's satirical "The Age of Innocence." But there are others. This doesn't seem to hit that mark, but I'm with you on the love-hate thing. I do, after all, visit these "cottages" n Newport, Rhode Island and the Vanderbilt mansions, the DuPont Estates, Mt. Vernon, Hampton Court Palace, Edith Wharton's home in Lenox, Mass. It's just human nature, I guess.