Ragtime (novel)

Ragtime is a 1975 historiographic metafiction novel by American author E. L. Doctorow. The novel mixes historical figures and fictional characters together in a sweeping narrative set in the New York City area from 1902 to 1915. With its layered storyline, Ragtime explores themes of racial injustice, class division, and the American Dream in American society. Though the novel stirred some controversy over the creative liberties Doctorow took depicting historical figures, Ragtime was critically acclaimed upon release, winning the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction in 1975. Since its release, Ragtime has been cited as one of the best English-language novels, ranking number 86 among Modern Library's 100 Best Novels. In 1998, Time magazine included Ragtime in its unranked list of the 100 Best English-Language Novels from 1923 to 2005. A film adaptation was released in 1981, and a musical adaptation premiered in 1996 in Toronto, Canada, before a run on Broadway beginning in 1998.