The Antebellum Period

(Hardback)

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Description

The Antebellum Era was a complex time in American culture. Young ladies had suitors call upon them, while men often settled quarrels by dueling, and mill girls worked 16-hour days to help their families make ends meet. Yet at the same time, a new America was emerging. The rapid growth of cities inspired Frederick Law Olmstead to lead the movement for public parks. Stephen Foster helped forge a catalog of American popular music; writers such as Washington Irving and Ralph Waldo Emerson raised the level of American literature; artists such as Thomas Cole and Thomas Doughty defined a new style of painting called the Hudson River School. All the while, schisms between northern and southern culture threatened to divide the nation. This volume in Greenwood's American Popular Culture Through History recounts the ways in which things old and new intersected in the decades before the Civil War. James and Dorothy Volo are one of the more prolific author teams in reference publishing today, and with this volume they make important contributions to Greenwood's successful series on America's other history.

Reviews

"While learning about government, great leaders, and war is obviously crucial to the study of history, learning about the everyday life of the regular man and woman is just as important in gaining a holistic view of the past. Greenwood excels at looking at history this way....[e]asy to read and informative....[r]ecommended for high-school, undergraduatem and public libraries. Could just as well be placed in the circulating collection as in reference."-Booklist/Reference Books Bulletin
The wealth of interesting information about life in the nineteenth century brings the whole period alive and might also invite further reading from this worthwhile period.-VOYA
While learning about government, great leaders, and war is obviously crucial to the study of history, learning about the everyday life of the regular man and woman is just as important in gaining a holistic view of the past. Greenwood excels at looking at history this way....[e]asy to read and informative....[r]ecommended for high-school, undergraduatem and public libraries. Could just as well be placed in the circulating collection as in reference.-Booklist/Reference Books Bulletin
"The wealth of interesting information about life in the nineteenth century brings the whole period alive and might also invite further reading from this worthwhile period."-VOYA

Author Bio

JAMES M. VOLO is a teacher, historian, and living history enthusiast. He has been an active historic reenactor for more than two decades, participating in a wide range of living history events, including television and screen performance. DOROTHY DENNEEN VOLO is a teacher and historian. She has been an active living history reenactor for 20 years and has been involved in numerous community historical education projects.