The Age of Innocence

Edith Wharton's novel The Age of Innocence came out in 1920. The book paints a portrait of late 19th-century upper-class life in New York City. The novel presents itself as an anthropological examination of this civilization, complete with references to the families and their tribal activities. The novel, which Edith Wharton witnessed firsthand in Paris during World War I, was written in the chaotic aftermath of the conflict and won the 1921 Pulitzer Prize for literature.