Carole Owens author of Pittsfield: Gem City in the Gilded Age December 15, 2007

On Saturday December 15 at 7 PM, author and historian Dr. Carole Owens will debut "Pittsfield: Gem City in the Gilded Age," her latest book on Berkshire County History.
This reading and book signing will take place at Stockbridge Booksellers 10 Elm Street Stockbridge, MA. A wine and cheese reception with the author will fbe included for all attendees.

From 1880 to 1920, Pittsfield attracted the American economic elite and played host to some of the most powerful men and women of the time. The aristocratic lifestyles of John D. Rockefeller, William Stanley and fellow captains of industry demanded equally glamorous houses. All are here, along with stories of a star-studded society era that included Edwin H. Lincoln, Herman Melville and Wild Bill Hickok.

The Gilded Age society in Pittsfield is an unexamined part of Berkshire County history. Unlike Lenox and Stockbridge, which remained largely agricultural and dependent on cottage industry, Pittsfield’s economy thrived, grew and prospered into the late nineteenth century, creating local millionaires by fostering the newest industries: energy and transportation. Pittsfield manufactured all the paper for American currency, was home to the first production of alternating current and boasted Tor Court, the most expensive of all the Berkshire cottages. The changes occurring in Pittsfield mirrored those in the country.

Author and lecturer Dr. Carole Owens has been named Scholar in Residence by the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities and Museum Scholar at the Berkshire Historical Society. She has written eight books, including The Berkshire Cottages (1984) and The Lost Days of Agatha Christie (1996), and she has been a contributor to a number of periodicals, such as the Boston Globe and Ladies Home Journal, and a columnist for the Berkshire Eagle. She has been a talking head and consultant for television programs on A&E, PBS, the Travel Channel, the History Channel, Fox News and cable access and local news. In addition, she has lectured at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Smithsonian, as well as giving over six hundred talks at historical societies, universities and libraries.

Official Website: http://www.booksite.com/texis/scripts/community/eventdetail.html?sid=6549&cal=1&eventid=474f2b5b11