The Postal Age: The Emergence of Modern Communications in Nineteenth-Century America

— —

David M. Henkin

The Postal Age

The Emergence of Modern Communications in Nineteenth-Century America

David M. Henkin

$52.95

Paperback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

University of Chicago Press
15 October 2007

Social & cultural history; Industrialisation & industrial history; Postal & telecommunications industries

Many of us may not realize that what we now call snail mail was once just as revolutionary as e-mail and text messages are today. 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. Through original correspondence and public discussions from the time period, Henkin tells the story of how Americans adjusted to a new world of long-distance correspondence, crowded post offices, junk mail, valentines, and dead letters. Throughout, The Postal Age paints a vibrant picture of a society where possibilities proliferated for personal and impersonal communications.

“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. . . . a nuanced view of the complicated relationships between technologies and systems and social forms. The Postal Age 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

By: David M. Henkin
Imprint: University of Chicago Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 23mm, Width: 17mm, Spine: 1mm
Weight: 340g
ISBN: 9780226327211
ISBN 10: 0226327213
Pages: 238
Publication Date: 15 October 2007
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

David M. Henkin is associate professor of history at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of City Reading.

Reviews for The Postal Age: The Emergence of Modern Communications in Nineteenth-Century America

"""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"""