The Postal Age

The Emergence of Modern Communications in Nineteenth-Century America

By: David M. Henkin

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Paperback | 15 October 2007 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Paperback
238 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
2.32 x 1.66 x 0.13

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Americans commonly recognize television, e-mail, and instant messaging as agents of pervasive cultural change. But many of us may not realize that what we now call snail mail was once just as revolutionary. As David M. Henkin argues in The Postal Age, a burgeoning postal network initiated major cultural shifts during the nineteenth century, laying the foundation for the interconnectedness that now defines our ever-evolving world of telecommunications.

This fascinating history traces these shifts from their beginnings in the mid-1800s, when cheaper postage, mass literacy, and migration combined to make the long-established postal service a more integral and viable part of everyday life. With such dramatic events as the Civil War and the gold rush underscoring the importance and necessity of the post, a surprisingly broad range of Americans-male and female, black and white, native-born and immigrant-joined this postal network, regularly interacting with distant locales before the existence of telephones or even the widespread use of telegraphy. Drawing on original letters and diaries from the period, as well as public discussions of the expanding postal system, Henkin tells the story of how these Americans adjusted to a new world of long-distance correspondence, crowded post offices, junk mail, valentines, and dead letters.

The Postal Age paints a vibrant picture of a society where possibilities proliferated for the kinds of personal and impersonal communications that we often associate with more recent historical periods. In doing so, it significantly increases our understanding of both antebellum America and our own chapter in the history of communications.

Industry Reviews

"The Postal Age is engagingly written, rich with anecdotes and observations that dramatize and illuminate the manifold facets of 'postal culture' in the antebellum United States.... It is a major contribution to American social history and to the history of communications in general." - Geoffrey Nunberg, author of Going Nucular: Language, Politics, and Culture in Controversial Times "The Postal Age succeeds in joining two kinds of history writing: the thoroughly professional and the engagingly popular. David M. Henkin offers a clinic in how to combine social analysis of institutions with cultural study of the rituals, emotions, and meanings by which people pattern their lives." - Richard Wightman Fox, author of Jesus in America"

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You Can Find This Book In

Non-Fiction Reference, Information & Interdisciplinary Subjects Interdisciplinary Studies Communication Studies Politics & Government Public Administration History Regional & National History History of the Americas Industry & Industrial Studies Media, Entertainment, Information & Communication Industries Postal & Telecommunications Industry

Specific Events & Topics in History Social & Cultural History Industrialisation & Industrial History

Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Joining a Network
Becoming Postal: A Communications Revolution in Antebellum America
Mailable Matters: From News to Mail
Playing Post Office: Mail in Urban Space
Postal Intimacy
Embracing Opportunities: The Construction of the Personal Letter
Precious as Gold: Mobility and Family in the Gold Rush and Civil War
Mass Mailings: Valentines, Junk Mail, and Dead Letters
Epilogue
Notes
Index
Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.

The Postal Age

The Emergence of Modern Communications in Nineteenth-Century America

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

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