As We Were: Life in America 1814 (American Classics) - Softcover

Hunt, Gaillard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0936399546 ISBN 13: 9780936399546

Publisher: Berkshire House Pub, 1993

Synopsis

Portrait of America on the brink of social and industrial revolution.

About this title

From the Publisher

As We Were is a unique social history of the new American Republic as it stood on the verge of the great westward expansion yet was still deeply tied to its Atlantic roots. It presents the only complete profile of American manners and mores at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Handsomely illustrated and with a wide breadth of coverage from "The President" to "Vice" to "Webster's Speller," and many other fascinating topics, it is written in a easily readable style.

From the Back Cover

In 1914, Gaillard Hunt, well known in Washington Circles as an able public servant and the editor of James Madison's writings in nine volumes, was asked to write a social history of Americans as they were in 1814 -- to celebrate 100 years of friendship between the American and British peoples. The resulting book, published as Life in America One Hundred Years Ago, is a delightful survey of American society on the eve of the Industrial Revolution.

Conscious of the World War then raging in Europe, Hunt sought to recreate for anxious Americans the optimism of an earlier era, answering many questions about their forebears: What were ordinary Americans concerned with in 1814? What was the position of women? What were the conditions of life -- in American medicine, transportation, education, politics, leisure?

Reprinted here with an illuminating foreword by Jack Larkin, Hunt's account remains a lively and enduring portrait of America on the threshold of greatness.

Gaillard Hunt (1862-1924) served in the Department of State and the Library of Congress. In addition to editing Madison's papers, he wrote a life of Madison, a biography of John C. Calhoun, and several other important volumes of political and social history.

Jack Larkin, director of Research, Collections and Library at Old Sturbridge Village, Massachusetts, is author of The Reshaping of Everyday Life 1790-1840 (HarperCollins) and Children Everywhere (Old Sturbridge).

About this edition

• Publisher: Berkshire House Pub
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0936399546
• ISBN 13: 9780936399546
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 298