Sjömansbiblioteket

New York City. The dawn of a new century. Two men intent on changing the world with two very different visions.

When a self-made millionaire and a new-age social revolutionary come head-to-head, there’s no telling who will come out on top. One wants the world. The other wants to give it to those less fortunate. And when a goodwill man steps in to act as mediator, he soon finds himself at a crisis of conscience. How should man choose who wins and loses? What is the best approach for equality for all? And can social struggles ever really be overcome?

Weaving a compelling and thought provoking tale of the moral highs and lows during the American age of emerging social struggle, William Dean Howells’ ‘A Hazard of New Fortunes’ is the perfect historical companion for ‘The Big Short’ fans of Ryan Gosling, Christian Bale, Steve Carell and Brad Pitt. It will make you stop, think and listen to the life experiences of those around you.

William Dean Howells (1837-1920) was an American novelist, literary critic and playwright nicknamed ‘The Dean of American Letters’. His work spans the Christmas story 'Christmas Every Day' and the novels 'The Rise of Silas Lapham' and 'A Traveler from Altruria'. An intellectual moral thinker, Howells also wrote critical essays on the work of Henrik Ibsen, Émile Zola, Leo Tolstoy and Emily Dickenson. Most notably, his novel ‘A Hazard of New Fortunes’ serves as a moral dissection of new age social struggles at the dawn of the 20th century America. Howells remains today a prominent thinker and writer of new age fiction.