Published in 1975, changed our very concept of what a novel could be. An extraordinary tapestry, ragtime captures the spirit of America in the era between the turn of the century & the First World War. The story opens in...Published in 1975, changed our very concept of what a novel could be. An extraordinary tapestry, ragtime captures the spirit of America in the era between the turn of the century & the First World War. The story opens in 1906 in new rochelle, ny, at the home of an affluent American family.