Carnival on the Page

In the decades before the Civil War American society witnessed the emergence of a new form of print culture as penny papers mammoth weeklies giftbooks fashion magazines and other ephemeral printed materials brought exuberance and theatricality to public culture and made the practice of reading more controversial. For a short yet pivotal period argues Isabelle Lehuu the world of print was turned upside down. <br/><br/>Unlike the printed works of the eighteenth century produced to educate and refine the new media aimed to entertain a widening yet diversified public of men and women. As they gained popularity among American readers these new print forms provoked fierce reactions from cultural arbiters who considered them transgressive. No longer the manly art of intellectual pursuit reading took on new meaning; reading for pleasure became an act with the power to silently disrupt the social order.<br/><br/>Neither just an epilogue to an earlier age of scarce books and genteel culture nor merely a prologue to the late nineteenth century and its mass culture and commercial literature the antebellum era marked a significant passage in the history of books and reading in the United States Lehuu argues.<br/><br/>Originally published 2000.<br/><br/>A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original and are presented in affordable paperback formats bringing readers both historical and cultural value.<br/><br/><br/><br/><!--Note: author would like to use paragraph below in place of last paragraph above on the back cover of the book. DO use paragraph above as final paragraph of catalog copy however.--><br/><!--Exploring literary texts and material culture words and images male and female audiences and highbrow and lowbrow culture from the 1830s to the 1850s Lehuu shows that the antebellum era was neither just an epilogue to an earlier age of scarce books and genteel culture nor merely a prologue to the late nineteenth century and its mass culture and commercial literature. Instead it marked a significant passage in the history of books and reading in the United States.--><br><br>