| Description |
1 online resource (xi, 244 pages) : illustrations |
| Contents |
Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Notes -- 1. The Elusive Reading Revolution -- Notes -- 2. Little Sheets of News and Varieties: The Penny Wonder in New York City -- Notes -- 3. Mammoths and Extras: Staging a Spectacle in Print -- Notes -- 4. Leaflets of Memory: Giftbooks and the Economy of the Gaze -- Notes -- 5. The ''Lady's Book'' and the Female Vernacular in Print Culture -- Notes -- 6. A Useful Recreation: Advice on Reading in the Age of Abundance -- Notes -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Notes -- Selected Bibliography -- Index |
| Summary |
Annotation In the decades before the Civil War, American society witnessed the emergence of a new form of print culture, as penny papers, mammoth weeklies, giftbooks, fashion magazines, and other ephemeral printed materials brought exuberance and theatricality to public culture and made the practice of reading more controversial. For a short yet pivotal period, argues Isabelle Lehuu, the world of print was turned upside down. Unlike the printed works of the eighteenth century, produced to educate and refine, the new media aimed to entertain a widening yet diversified public of men and women. As they gained popularity among American readers, these new print forms provoked fierce reactions from cultural arbiters who considered them transgressive. No longer the manly art of intellectual pursuit, reading took on new meaning; reading for pleasure became an act with the power to silently disrupt the social order. Neither just an epilogue to an earlier age of scarce books and genteel culture nor merely a prologue to the late nineteenth century and its mass culture and commercial literature, the antebellum era marked a significant passage in the history of books and reading in the United States, Lehuu argues |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 191-226) and index |
| Notes |
Print version record |
| Subject |
Books and reading -- United States -- History -- 19th century
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Popular literature -- United States -- History and criticism
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American literature -- 19th century -- History and criticism
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Book industries and trade -- United States -- History -- 19th century
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LITERARY CRITICISM -- Books & Reading.
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American literature
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Book industries and trade
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Books and reading
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Popular literature
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United States
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| Genre/Form |
Criticism, interpretation, etc.
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History
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| Form |
Electronic book
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| LC no. |
99027582 |
| ISBN |
0807860824 |
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9780807860823 |
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9780807825211 |
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0807825212 |
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9780807848326 |
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0807848328 |
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