Recording Angel

"The Recording Angel," published in 1905 by Edwin Arnold Brenholtz, is one of the earliest American proletarian novels aimed at advocating for social reform among the working class. The narrative explores themes of economic inequality, political collusion, and the decline of the middle class through a fictional class struggle between laborers and industrial magnates, centered around a fictional electric machine. Brenholtz, a prolific poet and writer, was involved in socialist movements and corresponded with notable figures like Theodore Debs and Samuel Clemens, making this work significant in the context of early 20th-century American literature and labor activism.