Thousands of men left their families for the bustling cities of nineteenth-century America, where many of them found work as clerks. "The Clerk's Tale" recounts their remarkable story, describing the struggle of aspiring businessmen to come of age at the dawn of the modern era. How did these young men understand the volatile world of American capitalism and make sense of their place within it? Thomas Augst follows clerks as they made their way through the boarding houses, parlors, and offices of the big city. Tracing the course of their everyday lives, Augst shows how these young men...
Thousands of men left their families for the bustling cities of nineteenth-century America, where many of them found work as clerks. "The Clerk's Tale...
Libraries - public, school, and academic - are ubiquitous cultural agencies. Yet how much do we know about the multiple ways that they serve and enrich our culture? These essays explore the role of the library in the life of the reader and the library as a place in the life of its users.
Libraries - public, school, and academic - are ubiquitous cultural agencies. Yet how much do we know about the multiple ways that they serve and enric...
Tracing the evolution of the library as a modern institution from the late eighteenth century to the digital era, this book explores the diverse practices by which Americans have shared reading matter for instruction, edification, and pleasure. Writing from a rich variety of perspectives, the contributors raise important questions about the material forms and social shapes of American culture. What is a library? How have libraries fostered communities of readers and influenced the practice of reading in particular communities? How did the development of modern libraries alter the...
Tracing the evolution of the library as a modern institution from the late eighteenth century to the digital era, this book explores the diverse pr...
