Bowing to Necessities

A History of Manners in America, 1620-1860

Nonfiction, History, Americas, United States
Cover of the book Bowing to Necessities by C. Dallett Hemphill, Oxford University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: C. Dallett Hemphill ISBN: 9780190284312
Publisher: Oxford University Press Publication: September 23, 1999
Imprint: Oxford University Press Language: English
Author: C. Dallett Hemphill
ISBN: 9780190284312
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication: September 23, 1999
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Language: English

Anglo-Americans wrestled with some profound cultural contradictions as they shifted from the hierarchical and patriarchal society of the seventeenth-century frontier to the modern and fluid class democracy of the mid-nineteenth century. How could traditional inequality be maintained in the socially leveling environment of the early colonial wilderness? And how could nineteenth-century Americans pretend to be equal in an increasingly unequal society? Bowing to Necessities argues that manners provided ritual solutions to these central cultural problems by allowing Americans to act out--and thus reinforce--power relations just as these relations underwent challenges. Analyzing the many sermons, child-rearing guides, advice books, and etiquette manuals that taught Americans how to behave, this book connects these instructions to individual practices and personal concerns found in contemporary diaries and letters. It also illuminates crucial connections between evolving class, age, and gender relations. A social and cultural history with a unique and fascinating perspective, Hemphill's wide-ranging study offers readers a panorama of America's social customs from colonial times to the Civil War.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Anglo-Americans wrestled with some profound cultural contradictions as they shifted from the hierarchical and patriarchal society of the seventeenth-century frontier to the modern and fluid class democracy of the mid-nineteenth century. How could traditional inequality be maintained in the socially leveling environment of the early colonial wilderness? And how could nineteenth-century Americans pretend to be equal in an increasingly unequal society? Bowing to Necessities argues that manners provided ritual solutions to these central cultural problems by allowing Americans to act out--and thus reinforce--power relations just as these relations underwent challenges. Analyzing the many sermons, child-rearing guides, advice books, and etiquette manuals that taught Americans how to behave, this book connects these instructions to individual practices and personal concerns found in contemporary diaries and letters. It also illuminates crucial connections between evolving class, age, and gender relations. A social and cultural history with a unique and fascinating perspective, Hemphill's wide-ranging study offers readers a panorama of America's social customs from colonial times to the Civil War.

More books from Oxford University Press

Cover of the book Innovation and Its Enemies by C. Dallett Hemphill
Cover of the book The Omega Files Short Stories Level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library by C. Dallett Hemphill
Cover of the book Transnational Crime: Oxford Bibliographies Online Research Guide by C. Dallett Hemphill
Cover of the book Playing Our Game by C. Dallett Hemphill
Cover of the book Demosthenes of Athens and the Fall of Classical Greece by C. Dallett Hemphill
Cover of the book Augustine, the Trinity, and the Church by C. Dallett Hemphill
Cover of the book One Nation, Uninsured by C. Dallett Hemphill
Cover of the book The Girl with Red Hair Starter Level Oxford Bookworms Library by C. Dallett Hemphill
Cover of the book It Began with Babbage by C. Dallett Hemphill
Cover of the book Thinking It Through by C. Dallett Hemphill
Cover of the book Choosing War by C. Dallett Hemphill
Cover of the book The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party by C. Dallett Hemphill
Cover of the book Game Changer by C. Dallett Hemphill
Cover of the book The American Military by C. Dallett Hemphill
Cover of the book The Spiritual-Industrial Complex by C. Dallett Hemphill
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy