The rapid rise in popularity of maps and geography handbooks in the eighteenth century ushered in a new geographic literacy among non elite Americans. In a path breaking and richly illustrated examination of this transformation, Martin Bruckner argues that geographic literacy as it was played out in popular literary genres significantly influenced the formation of identity in America from the 1680s to the 1820s. Drawing on historical geography, cartography, literary history, and material culture, Bruckner recovers a vibrant culture of geography consisting of property plats and surveying manuals, decorative wall maps and school geographies, the nation's first atlases, and sentimental objects such as needlework samplers. By showing how this geographic revolution affected the production of literature, Bruckner demonstrates that the internalization of geography as a kind of language helped shape the literary construction of the modern American subject. Empirically rich and provocative in its readings, ""The Geographic Revolution in Early America"" proposes a new, geographical basis for Anglo-Americans' understanding of their character and its expression in pedagogical and literary terms.

About the Author
Martin Bruckner is associate professor of English and material culture studies at the University of Delaware.

Reviews
"Martin Bruckner's wide-ranging study offers a vibrant interdisciplinary account of the contribution of geographical literacy to the development of an Anglo-American cultural identity." - Nancy Ruttenburg, New York University"



Book Information
ISBN 9780807856727
Author Martin Bruckner
Format Paperback
Page Count 296
Imprint The University of North Carolina Press
Publisher The University of North Carolina Press
Weight(grams) 423g