How the Post Office Created America A History

Format:

Book

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States Postal Service--History.

United States Postal Service.

Postal service--United States--History.

Postal service.

Physical Description:

p. cm.

Place of Publication:

Penguin Group USA 2017.

Summary:

Discover the surprising role of the postal service in our nation's political, social, economic, and physical development. The founders established the post office before they had even signed the Declaration of Independence, and for a very long time it represented the government for most citizens. The post became the catalyst of the nation's transportation grid, from the stagecoach lines to the airlines, and the lifeline of the great migration from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Gallagher traces its origins and leaders and describes its role in every major event in American history, from the Revolutionary War to the dawn of the Internet age.

Contents:

Introduction: Why the Post Office Matters

1. Inventing the Government: B. Free Franklin

2. Building the Postal Commons

3. Moving the Mail

4. The Politicized Post

5. Crisis and Opportunity

6. The Personal Post

7. Growing the Communications Culture

8. Linking East and West

9. The Mail Must Go Through

10. War Clouds, Silver Linings

11. Full Steam Ahead

12. The Golden Age

13. Redefining "Postal"

14. Starving the Post

15. Mid-Modern Meltdown

16. The U.S. Postal Service

Afterword: Whither the Post?

Acknowledgments

Notes

Suggested Readings

Index.

ISBN:

9780143130062

0143130064

OCLC:

964501870