The Republic of Color: Science, Perception, and the Making of Modern America - Hardcover

Rossi, Michael

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 022665172X ISBN 13: 9780226651729

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 2019

Synopsis

The Republic of Color delves deep into the history of color science in the United States to unearth its origins and examine the scope of its influence on the industrial transformation of turn-of-the-century America.
 
For a nation in the grip of profound economic, cultural, and demographic crises, the standardization of color became a means of social reform—a way of sculpting the American population into one more amenable to the needs of the emerging industrial order. Delineating color was also a way to characterize the vagaries of human nature, and to create ideal structures through which those humans would act in a newly modern American republic. Michael Rossi’s compelling history goes far beyond the culture of the visual to show readers how the control and regulation of color shaped the social contours of modern America—and redefined the way we see the world.

About this title

About the Author

Michael Rossi is assistant professor of the history of science and medicine at the University of Chicago.

Review

“An intriguing look at the history of and current way we conceive of color. . . . This book does a beautiful job of weaving together the way the different color sciences have made a cultural impact throughout history.” (Science)

"In a kaleidoscopic tour through American laboratories, artists' studios, corporations, and game boards of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Rossi puts color at the very center of US life. Colors wavered, shifted, and set each other off; stabilizing colors meant bringing order to anxious social and political relations. Lighting up a landscape of previously hidden connections, this eloquent, original book unfurls a stunning series of interlocking tales of science and sensation in the making of modern life." (John Tresch, The Warburg Institute, University of London)

"Are colors creations of the mind or something out there, in the surrounding world? If their perception arises from the interaction between the mind and the world, does that mean that different minds perceive colors differently? The Republic of Color shows how modern American efforts to resolve such conundrums not only engaged profound philosophical questions about the nature of reality and human knowledge but were also constantly shadowed by sociopolitical concerns about the possibility of a shared community. This brilliant history is quite simply the most stimulating I have read in recent years." (Shigehisa Kuriyama, Harvard University)

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 022665172X
• ISBN 13: 9780226651729
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320