"My hope is that by attending to sound I have been able to open up parts of these worlds, not to get a glimpse of them but to listen in. These were worlds much more alive with sound than our own, worlds not yet disenchanted, worlds perhaps even chanted into being."-from the IntroductionIn early America, every sound had a living, willful force at its source. Sometimes these forces were not human or even visible. In this fascinating and highly original work of cultural history, Richard Cullen Rath recreates in rich detail a world remote from our own, one in which sounds were charged with meaning and power.From thunder and roaring waterfalls to bells and drums, natural and human-made sounds other than language were central to the lives of the inhabitants of colonial America. Rath considers the multiple soundscapes shaped by European Americans, Native Americans, and African Americans from 1600 to 1770, and particularly the methods that people used to interpret and express their beliefs about sound. In the process he shows how sound shaped identities, bonded communities, and underscored-or undermined-the power of authorities.This book's stunning evidence of the importance of sound in early America-even among the highly literate New England Puritans-reminds us of a time before a world dominated by the visual, a young country where hearing was a more crucial part of living.

About the Author

Richard Cullen Rath is Associate Professor of History at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Reviews

Long before Howard Dean howled in Iowa, Quakers in East Jersey were 'tainted with the Ranting Spirit.'... Among their buttoned-up neighbors, the Puritans, these folks were considered possessed in 1675. But what's interesting, observes Richard Rath in this fascinating study, 'How Early America Sounded,' is that all sounds in those days indicated possession.... Rath connects the myriad ways in which sounds exerted social influence.... Finally, and most intriguingly, Rath says we may be living during just such a time again, as the printed transfers some of its authority to a more fluid and ephemeral cyberspace.

* The Christian Science Monitor *

Mr. Rath rehearses fascinating sound-details from the 17th and 18th centuries, reminding us that what we hear, and how we hear it, is no small part of experience.

* The Wall Street Journal *



Book Information
ISBN 9780801472725
Author Richard C. Rath
Format Paperback
Page Count 240
Imprint Cornell University Press
Publisher Cornell University Press
Weight(grams) 454g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 18mm