Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Release Date : 2013-05-01
ISBN 13: 022601505X
Page : 272 pages
Rating : 4.0/5 (15 users)
Download PDF or read online Marking Modern Times Book by Alexis McCrossen and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2013-05-01 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt/synopsis : The public spaces and buildings of the United States are home to many thousands of timepieces—bells, time balls, and clock faces—that tower over urban streets, peek out from lobbies, and gleam in store windows. And in the streets and squares beneath them, men, women, and children wear wristwatches of all kinds. Americans have decorated their homes with clocks and included them in their poetry, sermons, stories, and songs. And as political instruments, social tools, and cultural symbols, these personal and public timekeepers have enjoyed a broad currency in art, life, and culture. In Marking Modern Times, Alexis McCrossen relates how the American preoccupation with time led people from across social classes to acquire watches and clocks. While noting the difficulties in regulating and synchronizing so many timepieces, McCrossen expands our understanding of the development of modern time discipline, delving into the ways we have standardized time and describing how timekeepers have served as political, social, and cultural tools in a society that doesn’t merely value time but regards access to time as a natural-born right, a privilege of being an American.