Literacy and Popular Culture: England 1750-1914

Product Description


This book examines the consequences of the spread of mass literacy across the whole range of popular culture in England and argues that the impact of reading and writing can be discovered in the use that was made of these skills, and the meanings attached to them.


Review


"It is a major contribution to the field." Edward G. Holley, The Library Quarterly

"David Vincent has given us a book packed with important information that is based on careful research and analysis and provides interesting reading. It is a major contribution to the field." Edward G. Holley, The Library Quarterly

"This is a sophisticated book that makes a valuable contribution to our understanding of modern Britain." Modern Europe

"...Vincent has mastered an impressive range of sources to tackle such topics as occupational recruitment, learning on the job, labor relations, and the changing popular medical remedies of the nineteenth century, to assess the way in which some broke away from the loyal body of oral wisdom in search of a more rational explanation of their environment. As such this book must be the most comprehensive study made so far in the author's chosen field, drawing in as he does the impact of the wider socio-economic and technological changes of the century." Albion

"David Vincent's study... is an impressive achievement both for its empirical depth and its theoretical sophistication...wide-ranging and compelling...certainly the definitive work on the subject for this period." Albion M. Urdank, Journal of Modern History

"This book is rich in insightful anecdotes, quotations from personal diaries, and detailed descriptions of important figures and events. The scholarship is careful and impressive. In short, the book is a solid example of social history." John Boli, American Journal of Sociology

"...a graceful scrupulously detailed and documented sociological tour through an England changing rapidly in response to population growth, to the effects of industrialization, to emerging human values, to the availability of reading materials, and to the extension of basic deucation." Robert Nossen


Book Description


Arguing that the impact of reading and writing can be discovered in the use made of these skills and the meanings attached to them, this study examines the consequences of the spread of mass literacy across the entire range of popular culture in England.


About the Author


David Vincent is the author of "Home Run: The Definitive History of Baseball's Ultimate Weapon" and coauthor of the award-winning book "The Midsummer Classic: The Complete History of Baseball's All-Star Game", and "SABR Presents the Home Run Encyclopedia: The Who, What, and Where of Every Home Run Hit Since 1876". Major League Baseball, ESPN, FOX, "USA Today", and many other media entities consult him regularly on the history of the home run. He lives in Centreville, Virginia.