HBO's "The Gilded Age" series has featured real-life, prominent influencers of the historical era within its fictional environment. But who exactly were these individuals who shaped the Gilded Age into how we remember it today? In this podcast episode, we explore who the real, so-called tastemakers of this time period were in actual American history. Individuals such as Ward McAllister, Lina Astor (Caroline Schermerhorn Astor) and Edith Wharton were major figures who were both a product of, as well as molded, the era at the time according to their vision. Their "Gilded Age" helped give this time period the qualities we remember it as having to this day: a time period for showing off extravagant wealth, for practicing incredible formality, restraint, and upholding rigorous social codes. It was also a time period when many Americans came into money ...