Tracing the evolution of the library as a modern institution from the
late eighteenth century to the digital era, this book explores the
diverse practices by which Americans have shared reading matter for
instruction, edification, and pleasure. Writing from a rich variety of
perspectives, the contributors raise important questions about the
material forms and social shapes of American culture. What is a library?
How have libraries fostered communities of readers and influenced the
practice of reading in particular communities? How did the development
of modern libraries alter the boundaries of individual and social
experience, and define new kinds of public culture? To what extent have
libraries served as commercial enterprises, as centers of power, and as
places of empowerment for African Americans, women, and immigrants?
Institutions of Reading offers at once a social history of literacy
and leisure, an intellectual history of institutional and technological
innovations that facilitated the mass distribution and consumption of
printed books and periodicals, and a cultural history of the symbolic
meanings and practical uses of reading in American life. In addition to
the editors, contributors include Elizabeth Amann, Michael Baenen, James
Green, Elizabeth McHenry, Barbara Mitchell, Christine Pawley, Janice
Radway, James Raven, Karin Roffman, and Roy Rosenzweig.