A Calculating People: The Spread of Numeracy in Early America

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0226112845 ISBN 13: 9780226112848

Publisher: The University of Chicago Press, 1985

A history of the birth of the American passion for numbers, tracing the history of numeracy from its origins in the Enlightenment to its flowering in mid-nineteenth century America.

About the Author:

Patricia Cline Cohen is Professor of History at the University of California at Santa Barbara and author of The Murder of Helen Jewett: The Life and Death of a Prostitute in 19th Century New York (1998).

Review:

"[An] exceptionally well-crafted book...Illuminating and richly detailed."
-Paul Starr, "The New Republic
"An important volume...This thoughtful, original, and felicitous book deserves a broad audience."
-Michael Kammen, "Journal of American History
"A classic study...This elegant cultural history of how numbers became America's most powerful signs, both for reasoning and persuasion, is crucial for understanding the transformation of 19th-century America."
-Richard D. Brown, University of Connecticut