A Hazard of New Fortunes

In Short

When Basil March relocates to New York to edit a newly launched literary magazine, he finds his idealistic enterprise bankrolled by Jacob Dryfoos, a natural-gas speculator with little patience for dissent. As artistic compromise meets the cold realities of Gilded Age capitalism, the publication becomes a microcosm of a city fractured by wealth, poverty, and labor unrest. Howells weaves together the lives of striving artists, social-climbing heiresses, and radical reformers, crafting an enduring American novel about the moral cost of economic survival.

The Story

Basil March leaves a comfortable routine in Boston to take the editorial helm of Every Other Week, a cooperative literary journal devised by the hyper-energetic promoter Fulkerson. The magazine's quiet literary ideals are quickly overshadowed when the venture turns out to be financed by Jacob Dryfoos, an unrefined, newly rich Westerner who made a fortune in natural gas and real estate. Dryfoos moves his family to a grand New York home, intent on buying a place in society for his ambitious daughters, Christine and Mela, while remaining deeply skeptical of his idealist son, Conrad, who devotes his time and heart to charity work among the city's tenement poor.

March finds himself navigating a complex social landscape where art constantly collides with commercialism. He works alongside the volatile illustrator Angus Beaton, a cynical talent who dallies with Christine Dryfoos and the artistic Alma Leighton while courting fashionable society. At the same time, Margaret Vance, an heiress searching for spiritual purpose, moves between elite drawing rooms and Conrad's mission houses, inadvertently drawing Conrad deeper into her orbit of charitable zeal.

Tensions peak when Lindau, an old German socialist and Civil War veteran hired by March to do translations, refuses to draw a salary from Dryfoos's money, openly denouncing the tycoon's predatory capitalism. Dryfoos demands that March fire Lindau for his political views. March refuses on principle, putting his livelihood and his family's security on the line to preserve his moral independence.

Before the editorial dispute reaches its breaking point, a violent streetcar strike erupts across New York. Conrad Dryfoos, attempting to protect Lindau during a chaotic confrontation between striking workers and armed police, is shot and killed. Lindau is fatally injured in the same clash and dies shortly after.

The tragedy shatters the elder Dryfoos. Broken by the consequences of his own harshness and the loss of his son, he relinquishes control of the magazine, transferring its ownership on easy terms to Fulkerson and March. The Dryfoos family departs for Europe, Christine having bitterly severed her ties with Beaton. Margaret Vance abandons high society entirely to join an Anglican religious order, dedicating her life to serving the poor. March is left to guide Every Other Week with a sobered understanding of the fragile, interconnected city around him.

How It Unfolds

A literary gamble Fulkerson pitches a radical co-operative magazine to Basil March, envisioning a high-minded cultural venture that will sweep New York. March hesitates, but the promise of editorial freedom and a fresh start entices him to move his family from Boston.

The shadow of capital March discovers that the real financial power behind the magazine is Jacob Dryfoos, a ruthless Western speculator. The discovery darkens March's enthusiasm, forcing him to realize that his artistic independence rests on a millionaire's whim.

High society meets the street The Dryfoos family moves into a costly Manhattan mansion, where the daughters hunger for social prestige while Conrad quietly works in the slums. Margaret Vance visits them out of charity, unknowingly inspiring Conrad with a hopeless, exalted devotion.

A clash of convictions When the old socialist Lindau attacks Dryfoos's wealth, the tycoon orders March to discharge him. March refuses to surrender his ethics, choosing to risk his position rather than act as an instrument of political censorship.

Tragedy in the streets A violent streetcar strike breaks out, bringing the city's class warfare into the open. Conrad rushes into the melee to keep the peace, only to be struck down by a stray bullet beside the mortally wounded Lindau.

A quiet aftermath Grief-stricken, the elder Dryfoos surrenders his hold on the magazine and leaves for Europe with his daughters. March and Fulkerson take ownership of the journal, while Margaret Vance retires from society to enter a sisterhood.

The People

• Basil March: A thoughtful, middle-aged editor who wants to maintain his literary standards and personal integrity while supporting his family. He finds himself constantly balancing his moral sensibilities against the demands of his employer.
• Jacob Dryfoos: A former farmer transformed by an oil boom into a tyrannical millionaire. He wants to manage his vast wealth and command respect, but he finds that his money buys only anxiety, family strife, and alienation.
• Conrad Dryfoos: Jacob's gentle, deeply religious son who rejects his father's commercial values. He desires to serve the poor and win the approval of Margaret Vance, but his father's hostility stands in his way until his sudden, tragic death.
• Fulkerson: An endlessly optimistic, smooth-talking promoter who originates Every Other Week. He wants commercial success above all else, using charm to smooth over conflicts between the magazine's artistic staff and its wealthy backer.
• Margaret Vance: A wealthy, high-minded socialite caught between fashion and philanthropy. She seeks a meaningful life beyond elite drawing rooms, ultimately choosing religious devotion over worldly status.
• Angus Beaton: A gifted, erratic artist who craves aesthetic success and social prominence. His cynical vanity prevents him from forming genuine attachments, leaving him isolated from the women he pursues.

In Its Own Voice

"The man that holds the purse holds the reins. He may let us guide the horse, but when he likes he can drive."

Basil March reflects grimly on his complete dependence on Jacob Dryfoos, recognizing that artistic freedom is an illusion when capital retains ultimate authority over the enterprise.

"The money don't seem to buy anything but more and more care and trouble. We got a big house that we ain't at home in; and we got a lot of hired girls round under our feet that hinder and don't help."

Jacob Dryfoos confesses the bleak disappointment of his sudden wealth to his wife, realizing that his millions have erased his old life on the farm without offering real comfort in return.

"Can that poor wretch and the radiant girl we left yonder really belong to the same system of things? How impossible each makes the other seem!"

Walking through the night streets after a fashionable party, Basil March ponders the jarring divide between a destitute woman fleeing the police and the sheltered privilege of Margaret Vance.

What It's Really About

Howells probes the moral anxieties of a nation rapidly transforming from a rural, agrarian society into an industrialized empire. At its core, the novel asks whether personal integrity can survive in an economic system where money dictates art, labor, and human worth. It exposes the fiction of social isolation, demonstrating that the comfortable lives of the wealthy and the quiet work of intellectuals are inexorably tied to the struggles of the working class. Through the tragic intersection of his characters' lives, Howells argues that ignoring class divide and industrial misery is not merely a moral failure, but a dangerous delusion that threatens the entire social fabric.

Why Read It Today

This novel remains one of the most comprehensive portraits of late nineteenth-century New York ever written. Readers who enjoy sweeping social novels like those of George Eliot or Edith Wharton will appreciate Howells's keen eye for human nature and his refusal to rely on melodramatic clichés. He captures the rhythm of the city with remarkable nuance, balancing sharp satire of social climbers with genuine empathy for those crushed by the economic machine.

The book demands patience. Howells works in a realistic key, taking time to build his scenes through dialogue, domestic domesticity, and deliberate pacing. Modern readers must also navigate phonetically rendered regional dialects and the lingering social prejudices of the period. Yet these elements serve a larger purpose, grounding the narrative in the authentic noise of its era. What stays with you is the book's quiet urgency—its recognition that the choices made by ordinary people in their daily work help shape the justice or cruelty of the world around them.

<ElicitationsGroup message="Where would you like to go next with Howells's work?"> <Elicitation label="Compare this with Howells's 'The Rise of Silas Lapham'" query="Compare A Hazard of New Fortunes with William Dean Howells's earlier novel The Rise of Silas Lapham in terms of themes, setting, and critical reception."/> <Elicitation label="Explore late 19th-century American realism" query="Provide an overview of American literary realism in the late 19th century, focusing on Howells, Henry James, and Edith Wharton."/> </ElicitationsGroup>