Institutions of Reading: The Social Life of Libraries in the United States (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781558495913)

Tracing the evolution of the library as a modern institution from the late eighteenth century to the digital era, this book explores the diverse practices by which Americans have shared reading matter for instruction, edification, and pleasure. Writing from a rich variety of perspectives, the contributors raise important questions about the material forms and social shapes of American culture. What is a library? How have libraries fostered communities of readers and influenced the practice of reading in particular communities? How did the development of modern libraries alter the boundaries of individual and social experience, and define new kinds of public culture? To what extent have libraries served as commercial enterprises, as centers of power, and as places of empowerment for African Americans, women, and immigrants? Institutions of Reading offers at once a social history of literacy and leisure, an intellectual history of institutional and technological innovations that facilitated the mass distribution and consumption of printed books and periodicals, and a cultural history of the symbolic meanings and practical uses of reading in American life. In addition to the editors, contributors include Elizabeth Amann, Michael Baenen, James Green, Elizabeth McHenry, Barbara Mitchell, Christine Pawley, Janice Radway, James Raven, Karin Roffman, and Roy Rosenzweig.

Author: Thomas Augst
ISBN-10: 1558495916
ISBN-13: 9781558495913
Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press
Language: English
Published: 07/02/2007
Pages: 392
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.19lbs
Size: 9.20h x 6.16w x 0.94d

Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 09/15/2007 pg. 92
Reference and Research Bk News 05/01/2008 pg. 365