Main entry:

Bushman, Richard L.

Title & Author:

The refinement of America : persons, houses, cities / Richard L. Bushman.

Edition:

1st ed.

Publication:

New York : Knopf : Distributed by Random House, 1992.

Description:

xix, 504 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm.

Series:

Vintage books

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 449-484) and index.
Gentility 1700-1790: I. The Gentrification of Rural Delaware -- II. The Courtesy-Book World -- III. Bodies and Minds -- IV. Houses and Gardens -- V. Cities and Churches -- VI. Ambivalence -- Respectability 1790-1850: VII. Vernacular Gentility in Rural Delaware -- VIII. The Comforts of Home -- IX. Literature and Life -- X. Religion and Taste -- XI. City and Country -- XII. Culture and Power -- Notes -- Index.

Summary:

In this illuminating analysis of early American society, Richard Bushman traces the introduction of gentility into the life of the nation. He explores the concern for stylishness, taste, beauty, and politeness that began to be felt in America after 1700, and examines how this concern changed our environment and culture. Bushman makes clear that the quest for gentility, far from being trivial, was the serious pursuit of a personal and social ideal with sources in classical and Renaissance literature. In Europe, the growing interest in manners and beautiful environments was connected to the power of royal courts. In America, the transformation of architecture, furnishings, and wardrobes - from plain, rudimentary, and frugal, to decorative and sumptuous - was linked to the transfer of power to the colonial gentry. Gentility was the culture of the colonies' ruling elite. After the Revolution, gentility spread to a broad middle class, as an essentially aristocratic culture was democratized. The change affected nearly every aspect of life. The spread of gentility turned the conduct of ordinary people into a performance. Courtesy books taught people how to hold their bodies, and how to dress, eat, and converse in a pleasing way. The wish to be pleasing came to encompass virtually every form of behavior and every aspect of the physical environment, from houses and yards to public buildings and the adornment of streets. Factories sprang up to supply a vast new market for furniture, dishes, curtains, and carpets. Cities and towns planted trees, landscaped parks and greens, and erected fashionable hotels and churches. All of these developments were part of a vast effort to present a refined face to the world and to create a new kind of society. Bushman stresses that these visions of a more elegant life both complemented and competed with other American values associated with evangelical religion, republicanism, capitalism, and the work ethic. The melding with other values resulted in contradictions that were not easily resolved and that provided much cultural work for writers and theologians. Finally, he argues that gentility gained strength from collaboration with capitalism, but in a way that blunted class conflict. The combination of capitalism, republicanism, and gentility prevented the hardening of class consciousness. Instead there emerged a belief in the right of every citizen to membership in the middle class.

Resources:
Table of contents
Table of contents
Contributor biographical information
Publisher description
Klappentext

ISBN:

0394550102
9780394550107
0679744142
9780679744146

Subject:

Middle class United States History.
Architecture, Domestic United States History.
House furnishings United States History.
Material culture United States.
Bourgeoisie États-Unis Histoire.
Architecture domestique États-Unis Histoire.
Ameublement États-Unis Histoire.
Culture matérielle États-Unis.
Classes moyennes États-Unis Histoire.
21.84 interior design and decoration.
15.85 history of America.
21.72 house-building.
Architecture, Domestic
House furnishings
Manners and customs
Material culture
Middle class
Interieurkunst.
Elegantie.
Materiële cultuur.
Woningen.
United States Social life and customs To 1775.
United States Social life and customs 1775-1783.
United States Social life and customs 1783-1865.
États-Unis Mœurs et coutumes Jusqu'à 1775.
États-Unis Mœurs et coutumes 1775-1783.
États-Unis Mœurs et coutumes 1783-1865.
United States
USA

Form/genre:

History

Holdings:

Location: Library main 104251
Call No.: ID PLS E162.B986; ID:94-B195
Status: Available