A high-society sex scandal that ended in the murder of a successful architect in Madison Square Garden is the subject of a new book by Charlottesville historian Henry Wiencek.
Stan and Gus: Art, Ardor, and The Friendship That Built the Gilded Age follows the friendship of the aforementioned Stanford White and sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens.
White designed the Washington Square Arch, in addition to numerous buildings and homes for the wealthy. Saint-Gaudens was most known for monuments commemorating figures from the Civil War in New York’s Central Park and Chicago’s Grant Park, as two examples. He designed the $20 Double Eagle gold coin for the U.S. mint and the $10 Indian Head gold eagle. Together, the work of White and Saint-Gaudens defined the art of the Gilded Age.
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White’s prominence and untimely death in 1906 led to what many have called the “Trial of the Century” with his killer ultimately found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity.
In Stan and Gus, Wiencek sets the story of two ambitious young men within the larger story of the American Renaissance.
Wiencek’s also wrote Master of the Mountain: Thomas Jefferson and His Slaves, which was released in 2013. Master of the Mountain tells the not-so-pretty story of a life riddled with corruption and skewed morals of Jefferson and those in political and social circles around him.
Both books were released by Macmillan.
Book talk and signing set in Charlottesville
Wiencek will take part in a book talk and signing for Stan and Gus at New Dominion Bookshop in Charlottesville on Sept. 13 at 4 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
New Dominion Bookshop is located at 404 E. Main St. on the Downtown Mall.
For more information, visit ndbookshop.com.
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Crystal Graham
