Reading and Disorder in Antebellum America

Reference Type Book
Year of Publication
2011
Contributors Author: David M. Stewart
Language
English
Number of Pages
242 pp.
Publisher
Ohio State University Press
City
Columbus, OH
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Region
United States
Demographics
Men
Workers/Working class
Chronological Period
1800-1849
1850-1899
ISBN
978-0-8142-1158-8
Annotation

Examines the reading habits of working class men. 

Contents: 

  • Introduction. Reading and recreation in antebellum America 

Part 1. City crime. City reading 

  • Theorizing disorder
  • The erotics of space
  • Narrating excess 

Part 2. Bodily style. Reading bodies 

  • Cultural diet
  • Accusing victims
  • Men in public 

Part 3. The poetics of intimacy. Intimacies of disorder 

  • Social poetics
  • Sex and the police
  • The joys of seduction
  • The mysteries of chumship
  • The trouble with men.