Synopses & Reviews
"In this exciting new study of antebellum American magazines, Heather Haveman combines a polished narrative with quantitative data to argue persuasively that periodicals have been underappreciated but vital to the nation's literary and political culture. This book is one of the most significant investigations into American magazines since Frank Luther Mott's multivolume history several decades ago."
--Jonathan Daniel Wells, University of Michigan"Heather Haveman has created a comprehensive, rigorous, and profound explanation for the rise of American magazines. Her lucid, impressive research will prove invaluable to historians and sociologists while also engaging the interest of today's journalists."--Daniel Walker Howe, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning What Hath God Wrought
"This superbly documented portrait of the magazine industry from 1741 to 1860 provides a window into the process by which organizations emerge and transform American society. Heather Haveman is a skilled investigator who commands sophisticated social science tools, possesses deep historical knowledge, and has a gift for words, and she shows that magazines can be instruments of both social change and social control. I highly recommend this book."--Howard Aldrich, University of North Carolina
"This book is a marvel of scholarship that marries organization theory with the history of magazines and publishing in America. It is a riveting account of how newspapers and magazines powered the social transformation of American life. Beckoning cultural historians and organization theorists alike, it is a must-read for both groups."--Hayagreeva Rao, Stanford University
"The place of magazines in the early American republic has long been one of media history's major lacunas. Haveman's book makes remarkable strides toward filling this void by documenting the indispensable work that magazines performed in building ties through which many Americans became enmeshed in national causes. Haveman offers a fresh interpretation of American print culture and the making of modernity."--Richard K. Popp, author of The Holiday Makers: Magazines, Advertising, and Mass Tourism in Postwar America
"By masterfully uncovering the mechanisms that explain how magazines facilitated translocal communities and the typology of American modernization, Haveman has written a landmark achievement. Magazines and the Making of America is a breakthrough in our understanding of the dynamic relationships between organizations, institutions, and society. Indeed, I am already citing this book in my own work."--Damon J. Phillips, author of Shaping Jazz
"Tracing founders, geographic locations, content, and relationships to major social movements, this book uncovers the largely forgotten history of magazines in the United States, from their origins in 1741 until the beginning of the Civil War. This definitive account explores the impact that this cultural medium had on the integration of America, and its close association with the religious, economic, and social fault lines that we continue to grapple with today."--Martin Ruef, Duke University
Synopsis
The Description for this book, Magazines and the Making of America: Modernization, Community, and Print Culture, 1741-1860, will be forthcoming.
Synopsis
From the colonial era to the onset of the Civil War,
Magazines and the Making of America looks at how magazines and the individuals, organizations, and circumstances they connected ushered America into the modern age. How did a magazine industry emerge in the United States, where there were once only amateur authors, clumsy technologies for production and distribution, and sparse reader demand? What legitimated magazines as they competed with other media, such as newspapers, books, and letters? And what role did magazines play in the integration or division of American society?
From their first appearance in 1741, magazines brought together like-minded people, wherever they were located and whatever interests they shared. As America became socially differentiated, magazines engaged and empowered diverse communities of faith, purpose, and practice. Religious groups could distinguish themselves from others and demarcate their identities. Social-reform movements could energize activists across the country to push for change. People in specialized occupations could meet and learn from one another to improve their practices. Magazines built translocal communities--collections of people with common interests who were geographically dispersed and could not easily meet face-to-face. By supporting communities that crossed various axes of social structure, magazines also fostered pluralistic integration.
Looking at the important role that magazines had in mediating and sustaining critical debates and diverse groups of people, Magazines and the Making of America considers how these print publications helped construct a distinctly American society.
Synopsis
“Tracing founders, geographic locations, content, and relationships to major social movements, this book uncovers the largely forgotten history of magazines in the United States, from their origins in 1741 until the beginning of the Civil War. This definitive account explores the impact that this cultural medium had on the integration of America, and its close association with the religious, economic, and social fault lines that we continue to grapple with today.”—Martin Ruef, Duke University
About the Author
Heather A. Haveman is professor of sociology and business at the University of California, Berkeley.
Table of Contents
List of Figures and Tables ix
Acknowledgments xiii
Chapter 1 Introduction 1
Why Focus on Magazines? 4
Magazines, Modernization, and Community in America 5
The Modernization of America 9
Modernization and Community in America 12
The Path Forward: The Outline of This Book 15
Conclusion 22
Chapter 2 The History of American Magazines, 1741-1860 23
Magazine Origins 23
Magazine Evolution 26
Variety within and among Magazines 41
Conclusion 52
Chapter 3 The Material and Cultural Foundations of American Magazines 55
Publishing Technologies 57
Distribution Infrastructure: The Post Office 61
The Reading Public 74
Professional Authors and Copyright Law 86
Conclusion 103
Chapter 4 Launching Magazines 106
Who Founded American Magazines? 106
Why Were Magazines Founded? 127
How Did Magazines Gain Public Support? 136
Conclusion 142
Chapter 5 Religion 143
The Changing Face of American Religion 143
The Interplay between Religion and Magazines 160
Conclusion 184
Chapter 6 Social Reform 187
The Evolution of Social Reform Movements 187
Religion and Reform: The Moral Impulse 197
Magazines and Reform 201
The Press, the Pulpit, and the Antislavery Movement 212
Conclusion 221
Chapter 7 The Economy 224
Economic Development 224
Commerce and Magazines 238
Rationality and "Science" in America 245
A New American Revolution: Agriculture Becomes "Scientific" 250
Conclusion 267
Chapter 8 Conclusion 269
Appendix 1: Data and Data Sources 279
Core Data on Magazines: Sources 279
Refining the Sample: Distinguishing Magazines from Other Types of Publications 281
Measuring Magazine Attributes 284
Background Data on Magazine Founders 291
Data on Religion 294
Data on Antislavery Associations 301
Data on Social Reform Associations 303
Other Contextual Data 303
Appendix 2: Methods for Quantitative Data Analysis 307
Units of Analysis 307
Chapter 2: The History of American Magazines, 1741-1860 309
Chapter 3: The Material and Cultural Foundations of American Magazines 310
Chapter 4: Launching Magazines 319
Chapter 5: Religion 327
Chapter 6: Social Reform 335
References 343
Index 395