{"product_id":"an-archaeology-of-improvement-in-quentin-lewis-9783319221045","title":"An Archaeology of Improvement in Rural Massachusetts: Landscapes of Profit and Betterment at the Dawn of the 19th Century","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis book probes the materiality of Improvement in early 19\u003csup\u003eth\u003c\/sup\u003e century rural Massachusetts. Improvement was a metaphor for human intervention in the dramatic changes taking place to the English speaking world in the 18\u003csup\u003eth\u003c\/sup\u003e and 19\u003csup\u003eth\u003c\/sup\u003e centuries as part of a transition to industrial capitalism. The meaning of Improvement vacillated between ideas of economic profit and human betterment, but in practice, Improvement relied on a broad assemblage of material things and spaces for coherence and enaction. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eUtilizing archaeological data from the home of a wealthy farmer in rural Western Massachusetts, as well as an analysis of early Republican agricultural publications, this book shows how Improvement's twin meanings of profit and betterment unfolded unevenly across early 19\u003csup\u003eth\u003c\/sup\u003e century New England. The Improvement movement in Massachusetts emerged at a time of great social instability, and served to ameliorate growing tensions between urban and rural socioeconomic life through a rationalization of space. Alongside this rationalization, Improvement also served to reshape rural landscapes in keeping with the social and economic processes of a modernizing global capitalism. But the contradictions inherent in such processes spurred and buttressed wealth inequality, ecological distress, and social dislocation. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Quentin Lewis\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 3319221043\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9783319221045\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Springer\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 12\/02\/2015\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 236\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.17lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.63d","brand":"Quentin Lewis","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":48623348056319,"sku":"9783319221045","price":54.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/an-archaeology-of-improvement-in-quentin-lewis-9783319221045","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}