1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910785721203321

Autore

Martinek Jason D.

Titolo

Socialism and print culture in America, 1897-1920 / / by Jason D. Martinek [[electronic resource]]

Pubbl/distr/stampa

London : , : Pickering & Chatto, , 2012

ISBN

1-315-65500-4

1-317-32076-X

1-317-32077-8

1-283-85037-0

1-84893-335-5

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (xi, 202 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)

Collana

The history of the book ; ; number 11

Disciplina

335.0097309041

Soggetti

Socialism - United States - 20th century

Books and reading - Political aspects - United States - History - 20th century

Literacy - Political aspects - United States - History - 20th century

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 02 Oct 2015).

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 179-189) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Introduction : "Workers of the world, read!" -- "The workingman's bible" and the making of American socialism -- Charles H. Kerr & Company and the Americanization of Marxian socialism -- Activist readers and American socialists' print culture of dissent -- How the Socialist Party created a print culture of dissent without a party-owned press -- Information management and the Socialist Party's Information Department and Research Bureau -- Annotations on the failure of socialism in America -- Conclusion : What a book cannot do.

Sommario/riassunto

For socialists at the turn of the last century, reading was a radical act. This interdisciplinary study looks at how American socialists used literacy in the struggle against capitalism. The early presidential campaigns of Eugene V Debs - leader of the Socialist Party - produced a concerted effort to develop a socialist literature specifically for an American readership. There followed a rapid growth in printed material which helped the movement in its rise to prominence, however, Martinek contends that this over-reliance on the printed word was also



to be instrumental in its subsequent downfall.