Paradoxes of prosperity : wealth-seeking versus Christian values in pre-Civil War America / Lorman A. Ratner, Paula T. Kaufman, and Dwight L. Teeter, Jr.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ratner, Lorman.

Contributor:

Kaufman, Paula T.

Teeter, Dwight L., Jr., 1935-2015.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Journalism--Social aspects--United States--History--19th century.

Journalism.

American newspapers--History--19th century.

American newspapers.

American periodicals--History--19th century.

American periodicals.

Books and reading--United States--History--19th century.

Books and reading.

Publishers and publishing--United States--History--19th century.

Publishers and publishing.

Wealth--Social aspects--United States--History--19th century.

Wealth.

Ethics--United States--History--19th century.

Ethics.

United States--Social life and customs--1783-1865.

United States.

United States--Intellectual life--1783-1865.

United States--Moral conditions.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (170 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Urbana : University of Illinois Press, c2009.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In the midst of the United States' immense economic growth in the 1850s, Americans worried about whether the booming agricultural, industrial, and commercial expansion came at the price of cherished American values such as honesty, hard work, and dedication to the common good. Was the nation becoming greedy, selfish, vulgar, and cruel? Was there such a thing as too much prosperity? At the same time, the United States felt the influence of the rise of popular mass-circulation newspapers and magazines and the surge in American book publishing. Concern over living correctly as well as prosperously was commonly discussed by leading authors and journalists, who were now writing for ever-expanding regional and national audiences. Women became more important as authors and editors, giving advice and building huge markets for women readers, with the magazine Godey's Lady's Book and novels by Susan Warner, Maria Cummins, and Harriet Beecher Stowe expressing women's views about the troubled state of society. Best-selling male writers--including novelist George Lippard, historian George Bancroft, and travel writer Bayard Taylor--were among those adding their voices to concerns about prosperity and morality and about America's place in the world. Writers and publishers discovered that a high moral tone could be exceedingly good for business. The authors of this book examine how popular writers and widely read newspapers, magazines, and books expressed social tensions between prosperity and morality. This study draws on that nationwide conversation through leading mass media, including circulation-leading newspapers, the New York Herald and the New York Tribune, plus prominent newspapers from the South and West, the Richmond Enquirer and the Cincinnati Enquirer. Best-selling magazines aimed at middle-class tastes, Harper's Magazine and the Southern Literary Messenger, added their voices, as did two leading business magazines.

Contents:

Communicating the prosperity-morality paradox during the mid-nineteenth-century publishing boom

New York's newspaper giants during the anxious 1850's

Two newspapers, south and west

Harper's magazine and the Southern literary messenger : self-styled guardians of the republic

Godey's lady's book : the guide for middle-class women

Merchant magazines : the businessman's guide and conscience

Women writers : defending the Christian republic

Male writers : wrestling with the marketplace

Past times and faraway places.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [129]-142) and index.

ISBN:

9786613895400

9781283582957

1283582953

9780252092220

0252092228

OCLC:

811409087