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OverviewCultural historian David Henkin explores the influential but little-noticed role played by reading in New York City's public life between 1825 and 1865. From the opening of the Erie Canal to the end of the Civil War, New York became a metropolis, and demographic, economic, and physical changes erased the old markers of continuity and order. As New York became a crowded city of strangers, everyday encounters with impersonal signs, papers, and bank notes altered people's perceptions of connectedness to the new world they lived in. The 'ubiquitous urban texts'--from newspapers to paper money, from street signs to handbills--became both indispensable urban guides and apt symbols for a new kind of public life that emerged first in New York. City Reading focuses on four principal categories of public reading: street signs and store signs; handbills and trade cards; newspapers; and paper money. Drawing on a wealth of visual sources and written texts that document the changing cityscape--including novels, diaries, newspapers, municipal guides, and government records--Henkin shows that public acts of reading (to a much greater extent than private, solitary reading) determined how New Yorkers of all backgrounds came to define themselves and their urban community. Full Product DetailsAuthor: David HenkinPublisher: Columbia University Press Imprint: Columbia University Press Weight: 0.539kg ISBN: 9780231107440ISBN 10: 0231107447 Pages: 224 Publication Date: 23 December 1998 Audience: Professional and scholarly , Professional & Vocational Format: Hardback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: Out of stock The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available. Language: English Table of ContentsReviews"""A strikingly original account of a new kind of literacy in mid-nineteenth century New York City."" -- Konstantin Dierks" A strikingly original account of a new kind of literacy in mid-nineteenth century New York City. -- Konstantin Dierks Author InformationDavid Henkin is assistant professor of history at the University of California, Berkeley. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |