Publisher's Synopsis
The Ivory Tower is an unfinished novel by Henry James, posthumously published in 1917. The novel is a brooding story of Gilded Age America. It centers on the riches earned by a pair of dying millionaires and ex-partners, Abel Gaw and Frank Betterman, and their possibly corrupting effect on the people around them. Even in its fragmentary state The Ivory Tower has received high, sometimes extravagant praise. Much of the praise, though, appears politically motivated. Critics happy with James' attack on excessive wealth and laissez-faire capitalism have been willing to overlook the very slow pace of the novel and the extreme density of its prose.
