Main entry:

Brown, Richard D., author.

Title & Author:

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

Publication:

New York : Oxford University Press, 1989.

Description:

xii, 372 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 303-361) and index.
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 1760s to the 1790s -- 6. Information and insularity : the experiences of Yankee farmers, 1711-1830 -- 7. Daughters, wives, mothers : domestic roles and the mastery of affective information, 1765-1865 -- 8. William Bentley and the ideal of universal information in the enlightened republic -- 9. Choosing one's fare : Northern men in the 1840s -- 10. The dynamics of contagious diffusion : the battles of Lexington and Concord, George Washington's death, and the assassination of President Lincoln, 1775-1865.

Summary:

This book 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 reinforce political order and cultural unity. Employing diaries and letters to trace how information moved through society during seven generations, he explains that by the Civil War era, cultural unity had become a thing of the past. Assisted by advanced technology and an expanding economy, Americans had created a pluralistic information marketplace in which all forms of public communication--print, oratory, and public meetings--were competing for the attention of free men and women. Knowledge is Power provides fresh insights into the foundations of American pluralism and deepens our perspective on the character of public communications in the United States.

Resources:
Table of contents
Available from ACLS Humanities
Publisher description
French equivalent / Équivalent français
Electronic access restricted; authentication may be required:

ISBN:

0195044177
9780195044171
0195072650
9780195072655

Subject:

Communication United States History.
Communication États-Unis Histoire.
Information États-Unis Histoire.
17.21 monolingual sociolinguistics.
Civilization
Communication
Alfabetisme.
Communicatie.
Communications United States History.
Information États-Unis 18e siècle.
Information États-Unis 19e siècle.
Communication États-Unis 18e siècle.
Communication États-Unis 19e siècle.
United States Civilization To 1783.
United States Civilization 1783-1865.
États-Unis Civilisation Jusqu'à 1783.
États-Unis Civilisation 1783-1865.
United States
United States Civilization 18th century.
États-Unis Civilisation 18e siècle.
00030 United States 11030 literacy
Communication History United States
Geschichte 1700-1865

Form/genre:

History

Holdings:

Location: Library main 179970
Call No.: ID P92.U5 B7; ID:98-B495
Status: Available