From the colonial era to the onset of the Civil War, Magazines and the
Making of America looks at how magazines and the individuals,
organizations, and circumstances they connected ushered America into the
modern age. How did a magazine industry emerge in the United States,
where there were once only amateur authors, clumsy technologies for
production and distribution, and sparse reader demand? What legitimated
magazines as they competed with other media, such as newspapers, books,
and letters? And what role did magazines play in the integration or
division of American society?
From their first appearance in 1741, magazines brought together
like-minded people, wherever they were located and whatever interests
they shared. As America became socially differentiated, magazines
engaged and empowered diverse communities of faith, purpose, and
practice. Religious groups could distinguish themselves from others and
demarcate their identities. Social-reform movements could energize
activists across the country to push for change. People in specialized
occupations could meet and learn from one another to improve their
practices. Magazines built translocal communities-collections of people
with common interests who were geographically dispersed and could not
easily meet face-to-face. By supporting communities that crossed various
axes of social structure, magazines also fostered pluralistic
integration.
Looking at the important role that magazines had in mediating and
sustaining critical debates and diverse groups of people, Magazines and
the Making of America considers how these print publications helped
construct a distinctly American society.
