About this book
Ragtime, E. L. Doctorow’s best-known novel, highlights the American melting pot and how the nation came to be what it is today. Set in the early 1900s, the story namely focuses on a wealthy family living in New Rochelle, New York, simply named Father, Mother, Mother's Younger Brother, Grandfather, and the boy. The boy, Father and Mother's young son, perhaps narrates the novel from a reminiscent adult perspective, but the omniscient narrator is never decidedly identified. The family’s turn-of-the-century journey of adaption addresses the tensions between reacting to the evolution of the era and executing revolution.
Yet Ragtime is far more than the family’s narrative. In a beautiful execution of historical fiction, the novel weaves together biographical subplots of prominent figures of the day, including J.P. Morgan, Harry Houdini, Henry Ford, Sigmund Freud, and Emma Goldman. The result: Ragtime focuses not on just the nameless or the famous, but how the two groups create history together.
Written when Vietnam was drawing to a close, Ragtime addresses issues that were affecting America at the time—from the abuse of power to racism to using sex to sell just about anything—but it also includes classic and enduring themes of morality, repression and injustice, change, and time.
Ragtime was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel and won the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction in 1975. It also won the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters Award the following year. The novel was adapted for a 1981 movie and a 1998 Tony award-winning Broadway musical. Ragtime is included in TIME’s “100 Best Novels” (since 1923) and ranked 86th on Modern Library’s “100 Best” English-language novels of the 20th century.
First Edition Identification
Random House first published Ragtime in New York in 1975. The 276-page first editions are bound in brown cloth. First edition dust jackets state the original price of 8.95. From the first printing, 150 copies were specially bound as rare Presentation Copies, which are numbered and signed by the author. Presentation Copies have sold for up to $400.
Details
- Title Ragtime
- Author E. L. Doctorow
- Binding Paperback
- Edition Reprint
- Pages 270
- Volumes 1
- Language ENG
- Publisher Plume Books, New York
- Date 1996-03-01
- ISBN 9780452275706 / 0452275709
- Weight 0.6 lbs (0.27 kg)
- Dimensions 13.97 x 13.97 x 20.96 in (35.48 x 35.48 x 53.24 cm)
- Reading level 930
- Library of Congress subjects United States, New York (State)
- Library of Congress Catalog Number 95035954
- Dewey Decimal Code FIC
More Copies for Sale
Ragtime
by Doctorow, E. L
- Used
- Good
- Paperback
- Condition
- Used - Good
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780452275706 / 0452275709
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
CEDAR GROVE, West Virginia, United States
- Item Price
-
SGD 1.37SGD 7.07 shipping to USA
Show Details
Ragtime
by Doctorow, E. L.
- Used
- Very Good
- Paperback
- Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Edition
- 17th Ptg.
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780452275706 / 0452275709
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Canon City, Colorado, United States
- Item Price
-
SGD 6.80SGD 5.83 shipping to USA
Show Details
Ragtime
by E. L. Doctorow
- Used
- Very Good
- Paperback
- Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780452275706 / 0452275709
- Quantity Available
- 2
- Seller
-
Seattle, Washington, United States
- Item Price
-
SGD 10.01FREE shipping to USA
Show Details
Ragtime
by Doctorow, E. L
- Used
- Condition
- Used - Good
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780452275706 / 0452275709
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Mishawaka, Indiana, United States
- Item Price
-
SGD 10.41FREE shipping to USA
Show Details
Ragtime
by Doctorow, E. L
- Used
- Condition
- Used - Good
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780452275706 / 0452275709
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Mishawaka, Indiana, United States
- Item Price
-
SGD 10.41FREE shipping to USA
Show Details
Ragtime
by E. L. Doctorow
- Used
- as new
- Paperback
- Condition
- New
- Edition
- 25th printing stated
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780452275706 / 0452275709
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Cincinnati, Ohio, United States
- Item Price
-
SGD 15.10FREE shipping to USA
Show Details
Ragtime
by Doctorow, E. L
- Used
- Paperback
- first
- Condition
- Used - Very Good Condition
- Edition
- Presumed to be 1st as edition is unstated
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780452275706 / 0452275709
- Quantity Available
- 4
- Seller
-
Burgin, Kentucky, United States
- Item Price
-
SGD 26.36SGD 8.72 shipping to USA
Show Details
Ragtime
by Doctorow, E. L
- Used
- Paperback
- first
- Condition
- Used - Good Condition
- Edition
- Presumed to be 1st as edition is unstated
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780452275706 / 0452275709
- Quantity Available
- 4
- Seller
-
Burgin, Kentucky, United States
- Item Price
-
SGD 26.36SGD 8.72 shipping to USA
Show Details
Ragtime
by Doctorow, E. L
- New
- Condition
- New
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780452275706 / 0452275709
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
- Item Price
-
SGD 27.44SGD 24.71 shipping to USA
Show Details
Ragtime
by E. L. Doctorow
- Used
- Very Good
- Paperback
- Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780452275706 / 0452275709
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Stone Mountain, Georgia, United States
- Item Price
-
SGD 33.80SGD 6.18 shipping to USA