The Gilded Age in United States history is the late 19th century, from the 1870s to about 1900.The term was coined by writer Mark Twain in The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (1873), which satirized an era of serious social problems masked by a thin gold gilding.The Gilded Age was an era of rapid economic growth, especially in the North and West.As American wages were much higher than those in Europe, especially for skilled workers, the period saw an influx of millions of European immigrants.he term was coined by writer Mark Twain in The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (1873), which satirized an era of serious social problems masked by a thin gold gilding.