antebellum economic development and the American reading public /
Ronald J. Zboray.
New York :
Oxford University Press,
1993.
1 online resource (xxii, 326 pages) :
illustrations
Includes bibliographical references (pages 269-304) and index.
Reading and the ironies of technological innovation -- The publisher's market -- The book peddler and literary dissemination -- The transportation revolution and book distribution -- The railroad, the community, and the book -- Family, church, and academy -- The common school and other institutions -- The letter and the reading public -- Numeracy, the news, and self-culture -- The interior organization of a bookstore -- Gender and boundlessness in reading patterns -- Time, space, and chaos.
0
This text aims to explode two notions that are commonplace in American cultural histories of the 19th century: that the spread of literature was a simple force for the democratization of taste, and that there was a body of 19th-century literature that reflected "a nation of readers."
Fictive people.
American literature-- Appreciation-- United States-- History-- 19th century.
Book industries and trade-- United States-- History-- 19th century.
Books and reading-- United States-- History-- 19th century.
National characteristics, American.
Popular culture-- United States-- History-- 19th century.