Star territory : printing the universe in nineteenth-century America / Gordon Fraser.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Fraser, Gordon, 1981- author.

Series:

Material texts

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Astronomical literature--United States--History--19th century.

Astronomical literature.

Astronomy--Political aspects--United States--History--19th century.

Astronomy.

Astronomy and state--United States--History--19th century.

Astronomy and state.

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

United States.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

221 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania : University of Pennsylvania Press, [2021]

Summary:

"The cosmic aspirations of present-day United States nationalists are not recent developments. Efforts to control and exploit the universe have deep roots in the nineteenth century. From John Adams to military explorer John C. Frémont to astronomer Maria Mitchell, officials and agents of the United States participated in a large-scale effort to map the new nation onto cosmic space, what Henry David Thoreau referred to as "star territory." Many nineteenth-century dissenters against an emerging regime of U.S. space power saw in the tools of astronomy, land surveying, and navigation a means of producing alternatives to that regime"-- Provided by publisher.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Athenaeum copy: Jones Fund bookplate.

ISBN:

9780812252927

0812252926

OCLC:

1199328766