Content levels
Trigger warnings
Positive tags
Protagonist archetypes
Themes
Synopsis
Published in 1975, Ragtime changed our very concept of what a novel could be. An extraordinary tapestry, Ragtime captures the spirit of America in the era between the turn of the century & the First World War. The story opens in 1906 in New Rochelle, NY, at the home of an affluent American family. One lazy Sunday afternoon, the famous escape artist Harry Houdini swerves his car into a telephone pole outside their house. Almost magically, the line between fantasy & historical fact, between real & imaginary characters, disappears. Henry Ford, Emma Goldman, J.P. Morgan, Evelyn Nesbit, Sigmund Freud & Emiliano Zapata slip in & out of the tale, crossing paths with Doctorow's imagined family & other fictional characters, including an immigrant peddler & a ragtime musician from Harlem whose insistence on a point of justice drives him to revolutionary violence.
Is Ragtime appropriate for my child?
Suitable for most readers 16 and up.
This literary novel blends real historical figures with fictional characters in early 1900s America, exploring themes of class, race, and social justice. Contains violence including revolutionary acts, period-appropriate racism and social inequality, and mature thematic content about injustice that drives a character to violence.
What to know going in
This book has moderate violence, mild sexual content, and mild language. Content notes include violence, racism, and class struggle.
Who'll love this
Teens interested in American history will appreciate how this novel weaves famous figures like Houdini and Henry Ford into a tapestry of fictional lives exploring justice and social change.