History of My Own Times, Or, The Life and Adventures of William Otter, Sen

History of My Own Times, Or, The Life and Adventures of William Otter, Sen PDF Author: William Otter
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Artisans
Languages : en
Pages : 357

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History of My Own Times, Or, The Life and Adventures of William Otter, Sen

History of My Own Times, Or, The Life and Adventures of William Otter, Sen PDF Author: William Otter
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Artisans
Languages : en
Pages : 357

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Book Description


History of My Own Times; or, the Life and Adventures of William Otter, Sen., Comprising a Series of Events, and Musical Incidents Altogether Original

History of My Own Times; or, the Life and Adventures of William Otter, Sen., Comprising a Series of Events, and Musical Incidents Altogether Original PDF Author: William Otter
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501732072
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 247

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Book Description
Big Bill Otter was one member of the early American working class not preoccupied with republican principles or the heritage of the Revolution. Big Bill Otter—apprentice, journeyman, master plasterer—was a thug. Otter's autobiography, first published in 1835, provides a rare and fascinating counterpoint to romantic notions of virtuous, respectable craftsmen in the early republic. His Life and Adventures offer an inside account of the brawling racism common in the early nineteenth century and sharply detail the rowdy male subculture of the times. Born in England and conscripted into the British Navy during the Napoleonic wars, Otter jumped ship and came to New York City in 1801. He apprenticed as a plasterer and joined an urban gang; later he was a master plasterer, tavernkeeper, slavecatcher, "Jackson man," bigot, town bully, notorious practical joker, borderline psychopath, mayoral candidate, and all-round "jolly fellow." History of My Own Times is one of the few first-person accounts of a rural artisan in pre-genteel America. The book depicts the ambiguities of race relations in the early nineteenth century, sheds light on its definition of manhood, and conveys a sense of humor very different from today's. Richard B. Stott's introduction an,d commentary place Otter in the context of his times and explore the significance of his autobiography in understanding the social and cultural history of the early American republic.

History of My Own Times; Or, The Life and Adventures of William Otter

History of My Own Times; Or, The Life and Adventures of William Otter PDF Author: William Otter
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Maryland
Languages : en
Pages : 353

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Book Description


Keepers of the Revolution

Keepers of the Revolution PDF Author: Paul Gilje
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501724339
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 317

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Book Description
They recreate the rhythms of daily life, clarify the impact of political and social changes on working people, and help us appreciate how these women and men-not just the country's founding fathers—were truly "keepers of the revolution." Paul A. Gilje and Howard B. Rock provide a general introduction to New York after independence and then devote sections of the book to apprentices, journeymen, master craftsmen, waterfront workers, blacks, and women. Most sections are anchored by several first-person accounts—autobiographies and reminiscences and include advertisements, courtcase testimony, newspaper reports, broadsides, appeals to Congress—all the colorful detail that can be used to illuminate the immediate, personal, lived experience of individuals of that particular time and place. A stunning group of illustrations adds to the reader's sense of the flavor and appearance of the rapidly growing city. Keepers of the Revolution will find appreciative readers among labor, social, urban, and early American historians, as well as antique collectors and antiquarians interested in early New York.

The Encyclopedia of New York City

The Encyclopedia of New York City PDF Author: Kenneth T. Jackson
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300114656
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 1582

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Book Description
Covering an exhaustive range of information about the five boroughs, the first edition of The Encyclopedia of New York City was a success by every measure, earning worldwide acclaim and several awards for reference excellence, and selling out its first printing before it was officially published. But much has changed since the volume first appeared in 1995: the World Trade Center no longer dominates the skyline, a billionaire businessman has become an unlikely three-term mayor, and urban regeneration—Chelsea Piers, the High Line, DUMBO, Williamsburg, the South Bronx, the Lower East Side—has become commonplace. To reflect such innovation and change, this definitive, one-volume resource on the city has been completely revised and expanded. The revised edition includes 800 new entries that help complete the story of New York: from Air Train to E-ZPass, from September 11 to public order. The new material includes broader coverage of subject areas previously underserved as well as new maps and illustrations. Virtually all existing entries—spanning architecture, politics, business, sports, the arts, and more—have been updated to reflect the impact of the past two decades. The more than 5,000 alphabetical entries and 700 illustrations of the second edition of The Encyclopedia of New York City convey the richness and diversity of its subject in great breadth and detail, and will continue to serve as an indispensable tool for everyone who has even a passing interest in the American metropolis.

Out of the Shadow

Out of the Shadow PDF Author: Rose Cohen
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 0801471427
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
In this appealing autobiography, Rose Cohen looks back on her family's journey from Tsarist Russia to New York City's Lower East Side. Her account of their struggles and of her own coming of age in a complex new world vividly illustrates what was, for some, the American experience. First published in 1918, Cohen's narrative conveys a powerful sense of the aspirations and frustrations of an immigrant Jewish family in an alien culture. With uncommon frankness, Cohen reports her youthful impressions of daily life in the tenements and of working conditions in garment sweatshops and domestic service. She introduces a large cast, including her co-workers, employers, mentors, family members, and friends. In simple yet moving terms, she recalls how, while confronting setbacks caused by poor health and dilemmas posed by courtship, she finds opportunities to educate herself. She also records the gradual weakening of her family's commitment to religion as they find their way from the shadow of poverty toward the mainstream of American life.

The Gods of Prophetstown

The Gods of Prophetstown PDF Author: Adam Jortner
Publisher: OUP USA
ISBN: 0199765294
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
An original, readable narrative of the 1811 Battle of Tippecanoe and the role of religion in the history of the American West

Scraping By

Scraping By PDF Author: Seth Rockman
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 0801899990
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 388

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Book Description
Co-winner, 2010 Merle Curti Award, Organization of American HistoriansWinner, 2010 Philip Taft Labor History Book Award, ILR School at Cornell University and the Labor and Working-Class History AssociationWinner, 2010 H. L. Mitchell Award, Southern Historical Association Enslaved mariners, white seamstresses, Irish dockhands, free black domestic servants, and native-born street sweepers all navigated the low-end labor market in post-Revolutionary Baltimore. Seth Rockman considers this diverse workforce, exploring how race, sex, nativity, and legal status determined the economic opportunities and vulnerabilities of working families in the early republic. In the era of Frederick Douglass, Baltimore's distinctive economy featured many slaves who earned wages and white workers who performed backbreaking labor. By focusing his study on this boomtown, Rockman reassesses the roles of race and region and rewrites the history of class and capitalism in the United States during this time. Rockman describes the material experiences of low-wage workers—how they found work, translated labor into food, fuel, and rent, and navigated underground economies and social welfare systems. He also explores what happened if they failed to find work or lost their jobs. Rockman argues that the American working class emerged from the everyday struggles of these low-wage workers. Their labor was indispensable to the early republic’s market revolution, and it was central to the transformation of the United States into the wealthiest society in the Western world. Rockman’s research includes construction site payrolls, employment advertisements, almshouse records, court petitions, and the nation’s first “living wage” campaign. These rich accounts of day laborers and domestic servants illuminate the history of early republic capitalism and its consequences for working families.

The Urban South and the Coming of the Civil War

The Urban South and the Coming of the Civil War PDF Author: Frank Towers
Publisher: University of Virginia Press
ISBN: 9780813922973
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
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Sam Patch, the Famous Jumper

Sam Patch, the Famous Jumper PDF Author: Paul E. Johnson
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 1429931957
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description
The true history of a legendary American folk hero In the 1820s, a fellow named Sam Patch grew up in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, working there (when he wasn't drinking) as a mill hand for one of America's new textile companies. Sam made a name for himself one day by jumping seventy feet into the tumultuous waters below Pawtucket Falls. When in 1827 he repeated the stunt in Paterson, New Jersey, another mill town, an even larger audience gathered to cheer on the daredevil they would call the "Jersey Jumper." Inevitably, he went to Niagara Falls, where in 1829 he jumped not once but twice in front of thousands who had paid for a good view. The distinguished social historian Paul E. Johnson gives this deceptively simple story all its deserved richness, revealing in its characters and social settings a virtual microcosm of Jacksonian America. He also relates the real jumper to the mythic Sam Patch who turned up as a daring moral hero in the works of Hawthorne and Melville, in London plays and pantomimes, and in the spotlight with Davy Crockett—a Sam Patch who became the namesake of Andrew Jackson's favorite horse. In his shrewd and powerful analysis, Johnson casts new light on aspects of American society that we may have overlooked or underestimated. This is innovative American history at its best.