"Late nineteenth century," he says. "Think...1870 or so, on through the early 1900s. Rapid industrialization, leading to a high and highly lopsided concentration of wealth and the drive to display it as such."

Darlington pauses, thinking. "Did you ever visit Newport, back home? Rhode Island. The mansions along the shore, those ostentatious things they called cottages, like that negated what anyone with eyes could see. That's the part of the era that comes to mind for most people."