Railroads in the Old South: Pursuing Progress in a Slave Society - Hardcover

Marrs, Aaron W.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0801891302 ISBN 13: 9780801891304

Verlag: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009

Inhaltsangabe

Aaron W. Marrs challenges the accepted understanding of economic and industrial growth in antebellum America with this original study of the history of the railroad in the Old South.

Drawing from both familiar and overlooked sources, such as the personal diaries of Southern travelers, papers and letters from civil engineers, corporate records, and contemporary newspaper accounts, Marrs skillfully expands on the conventional business histories that have characterized scholarship in this field. He situates railroads in the fullness of antebellum life, examining how slavery, technology, labor, social convention, and the environment shaped their evolution.

Far from seeing the Old South as backward and premodern, Marrs finds evidence of urban life, industry, and entrepreneurship throughout the region. But these signs of progress existed alongside efforts to preserve traditional ways of life. Railroads exemplified Southerners' pursuit of progress on their own terms: developing modern transportation while retaining a conservative social order.

Railroads in the Old South demonstrates that a simple approach to the Old South fails to do justice to its complexity and contradictions.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Aaron W. Marrs received his Ph.D. in history from the University of South Carolina and was associate managing editor of South Carolina Encyclopedia. He now serves in the Office of the Historian, United States Department of State.

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2009
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0801891302
• ISBN 13: 9780801891304
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Anzahl der Seiten: 268
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: preigu; mail@preigu.de; ; Lengericher Landstr. 19; Osnabrück; 49078; Deutschland