1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910784621603321

Autore

Brown Richard D

Titolo

Knowledge is power [[electronic resource] ] : the diffusion of information in early America, 1700-1865 / / Richard D. Brown

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York, : Oxford University Press, 1991, c1989

ISBN

0-19-771416-1

1-280-44134-8

1-4237-3753-9

1-60129-857-9

0-19-507265-0

0-19-802134-8

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (385 p.)

Disciplina

302.2/0973

Soggetti

Communication - United States - History

United States Civilization To 1783

United States Civilization 1783-1865

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliography: p. [303]-361 and index.

Nota di contenuto

Contents; Introduction; 1 Information and Authority in Samuel Sewall's Boston, 1676-1729; 2 William Byrd II and the Challenge of Rusticity Among the Tidewater Gentry; 3 Rural Clergymen and the Communication Networks of 18th-Century New England; 4 Lawyers, Public Office, and Communication Patterns in Provincial Massachusetts: The Early Careers of Robert Treat Paine and John Adams, 1749-1774; 5 Communications and Commerce: Information Diffusion in Northern Ports from the 1760's to the 1790's; 6 Information and Insularity: The Experiences of Yankee Farmers, 1711-1830

7 Daughters, Wives, Mothers: Domestic Roles and the Mastery of Affective Information, 1765-18658 William Bentley and the Ideal of Universal Information in the Enlightened Republic; 9 Choosing One's Fare: Northern Men in the 1840's; 10 The Dynamics of Contagious Diffusion: The Battles of Lexington and Concord, George Washington's Death, and the Assassination of President Lincoln, 1775-1865; Conclusion; Appendix; Notes; Index



Sommario/riassunto

Brown here explores America's first communications revolution--the revolution that made printed goods and public oratory widely available and, by means of the steamboat, railroad and telegraph, sharply accelerated the pace at which information traveled. He describes the day-to-day experiences of dozens of men and women, and in the process illuminates the social dimensions of this profound, far-reaching transformation. Brown begins in Massachusetts and Virginia in the early 18th century, when public information was the precious possession of the wealthy, learned, and powerful, who used it to