The Best Poor Man's Country: A Geographical Study Of Early Southeastern Pennsylvania

Lemon, James T.

ISBN 10: 0801811899 / ISBN 13: 9780801811890

Published by Johns Hopkins Press, 1972

About this Item

Small Address Label Taped To Front End Paper.

Seller Inventory # 603258

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Best Poor Man's Country: A Geographical Study Of Early Southeastern Pennsylvania
• Publisher: Johns Hopkins Press
• Publication Date: 1972
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0801811899
• ISBN 13: 9780801811890
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Europe

About this title

Synopsis

In many respects early Pennsylvania was the prototype of North American development. Its conservative defense of liberal individualism, its population of mixed national and religious origins, its dispersed farms, county seats, and farm-service villages, and its mixed crop and livestock agriculture served as models for much of the rural Middle West. To many western Europeans in the eighteenth century, life in early Pennsylvania offered a veritable paradise and refuge from oppression. Some called it "the best poor man's country in the world."

The role of cultural backgrounds is important in this study of the development of early southeastern Pennsylvania, and as important is the interplay of people with the land. Lemon discusses the settlement of the land by western Europeans; the geographical and social mobility of the people; territorial organizations of farmlands, towns, and counties; and regional variations in land use, especially farming practices. Providing deeper access into the processes of social change, The Best Poor Man's Country remains a significant addition to the literature on colonial American historiography.

About the Author

James T. Lemon is a professor emeritus of geography at the University of Toronto.