{"product_id":"9780472133178-staged-readings","title":"Staged Readings","description":"\u003cmeta content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\" http-equiv=\"Content-Type\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eContesting Class in Popular American Theater and Literature, 1835-75. Studies the social consequences of 19th-century America’s two most prevalent leisure forms: theatre and popular literature. Based in the historical archive, \u003cem\u003eStaged Readings\u003c\/em\u003e presents a panoramic display of mid-century leisure and entertainment. \u003ci\u003eStaged Readings\u003c\/i\u003e studies the social consequences of 19th-century America’s two most prevalent leisure forms: theater and popular literature. In the midst of watershed historical developments—including numerous waves of immigration, two financial Panics, increasing wealth disparities, and the Civil War—American theater and literature were developing at unprecedented rates. Playhouses became crowded with new spectators, best-selling novels flew off the shelves, and, all the while, distinct social classes began to emerge. While the middle and upper classes were espousing conservative literary tastes and attending family matinees and operas, laborers were reading dime novels and watching downtown spectacle melodramas like \u003ci\u003eNymphs of the Red Sea\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Pirate’s Signal or, The Bridge of Death!!!\u003c\/i\u003e As audiences traveled from the reading parlor to the playhouse (and back again), they accumulated a vital sense of social place in the new nation. In other words, culture\u003ci\u003e made\u003c\/i\u003e class in 19th-century America.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBased in the historical archive, \u003ci\u003eStaged Readings\u003c\/i\u003e presents a panoramic display of mid-century leisure and entertainment. It examines best-selling novels, such as Harriet Beecher Stowe’s \u003ci\u003eUncle Tom’s Cabin\u003c\/i\u003e and George Lippard’s \u003ci\u003eThe Quaker City\u003c\/i\u003e. But it also analyzes a series of sensational melodramas, parlor theatricals, doomsday speeches, tableaux vivant displays, curiosity museum exhibits, and fake volcano explosions. These oft-overlooked spectacles capitalized on consumers’ previous cultural encounters and directed their social identifications. The book will be particularly appealing to those interested in histories of popular theater, literature and reading, social class, and mass culture.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rarewaves","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40868016029793,"sku":"9780472133178","price":101.17,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0092\/7504\/8033\/files\/f30db1a416a72f9564d245ef198f63f0.png?v=1686785937","url":"https:\/\/www.rarewaves.com\/products\/9780472133178-staged-readings","provider":"Rarewaves.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}