Ragtime (A Novel)

First published in 1975, Ragtime changed our very concept of what a novel could be—a singular tapestry hailed as “an extraordinarily deft, lyrical, rich novel that catches the spirit of the country” (The New Yorker) between the turn of the century and the First World War.

In celebration of Random House’s 100th anniversary, the publisher is reissuing this landmark publication as a hardcover edition featuring bold new cover art, a stunning paper-over-board design, and custom endpapers.

The inspiration for the Tony Award–winning musical!

The story opens in 1906 in New Rochelle, New York, 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 fact and fiction, between real and invented characters, disappears.

This is the era of Henry Ford and his Model T; of Emma Goldman, the revolutionary; of J. P. Morgan, the great tycoon; of Evelyn Nesbit, the former chorus girl, for whom some lovers pine and others die. All of them cross paths with Doctorow's brilliant fictional creations, including Tateh, an immigrant Jewish peddler, and Coalhouse Walker, Jr., a ragtime pianist from Harlem whose insistence on a point of justice brings this spellbinding classic to a shocking climax.