Recasting American Liberty: Gender, Race, Law, and the Railroad Revolution, 1865–1920

ISBN-13: 9780521640206 / Angielski / Twarda / 2001 / 426 str.

Barbara Young Welke (University of Minnesota)

Opis

Through courtroom dramas from 1865 to 1920, Recasting American Liberty offers a dramatic reconsideration of the critical role railroads, and their urban counterpart, streetcars, played in transforming the conditions of individual liberty at the dawn of the 20th century. The three-part narrative, focusing on the law of accidental injury, nervous shock, and racial segregation in public transit, captures Americans' journey from a cultural and legal ethos celebrating manly independence and autonomy to one that recognized and sought to protect the individual against the corporate power, modern technology and modern urban space.

Recenzje

"Welke's study...is a welcome addition to the growing literature on how railroading shaped legal culture. Based upon meticulous research in legal records, it will stimulate debate and deserves a large audience." H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online

Spis treści

Part I. The Body: Accidental Injury: 1. The railway journey (i): the technological transformation; 2. Gendered journeys (i): physical vulnerability; 3. The law of accidental injury; Junction: pain and suffering; Part II. Mind and Body: Nervous Shock: 4. The railway journey (ii): the psychological transformation; 5. Gendered journeys (ii): psychological vulnerability; 6. The law of nervous shock; Junction: truth, legal storytelling, and the performance of injury; Part III. Person: Racial Segregation: 7. The Railway journey (iii): the spatial transformation; 8. Gendered journeys (iii): status vulnerability; 9. The law of racial segregation.