Reading Becomes a Necessity of Life: Material and Cultural Life in Rural New England, 1780-1835Gilmore (history, Stockton State College) is concerned with the half century following independence, during which rural New England changed from a traditional agricultural region into a commercialized one. He examines the links among cultural, social, and economic aspects of this transformation, an ingredient of which was an ideological commitment to reading and learning. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR |
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Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Continuity | 17 |
The Study Area and the Scale of Generalization 27 | 27 |
Reading Instruction in Rural New England | 34 |
Toward the Intellectual Emancipation | 42 |
The Commercialization of Rural Life | 53 |
Conclusions 110 | 110 |
Trends in the Acquisition of Elementary Literacy | 118 |
Upper Valley Vehicles of Print Communicatons | 189 |
Popular Sellers and the Life Cycle 217 | 217 |
The Material Anchors | 225 |
Windsor District Society and the American Northeast | 240 |
Wealth and Holdings of Printed Matter 247 | 247 |
Kinds of Works Retained | 264 |
Windsor District and Rural America | 273 |
Human Habitats | 285 |
Elementary LiteracyPace and Motives 127 | 127 |
The Human Habitats of Rural New England | 135 |
Description of the Human Habitats | 141 |
History of the Network of Human Habitats | 148 |
The Communication System | 157 |
The Circulation System for Print Culture | 163 |
Zones of Access to Print Culture | 178 |
Common terms and phrases
accounts activity advertisements almanacs American areas artisan average basic Bible bookstore century Chester circulation collections commercial communications continued County cultural discussion early economic editions England especially evidence existed factors family libraries farm farmstead female five forms fortunate four half hamlet hardscrabble holdings households human habitats important included increased intellectual interests inventories knowledge laborer late learning least levels literacy living major material newspaper occupations participation percent periodicals political popular population print culture printed matter production professional published purchased range readers reading reading matter religious Republic residents retained River rural rural New England sacred secular self-sufficient share situation social society third throughout tion townships trade traditional types Upper Valley values Vermont village volumes wealth weekly widely Windsor District women writing York zone
Popular passages
Page 488 - DISCOURSES on the Application of Christianity to the Commercial and Ordinary Affairs of Life, 1 Vol., 4s.
Bibliographic information
| Title | Reading Becomes a Necessity of Life: Material and Cultural Life in Rural New England, 1780-1835 |
| Author | William J. Gilmore |
| Edition | illustrated, reprint |
| Publisher | Univ. of Tennessee Press, 1992 |
| ISBN | 0870497685, 9780870497681 |
| Length | 538 pages |
| Subjects | › › History / United States / Colonial Period (1600-1775) Language Arts & Disciplines / General Literary Criticism / Books & Reading |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |