Pfitzer's new book examines popular history of 19th century

American studies Professor Greg Pfitzer examines the dramatic rise of mass-market popular histories in 19th-century America in his new book Popular History and the Literary Marketplace, 1840-1920 (2008, University of Massachusetts Press).

Prior to the mid-19th century, most Americans ?heard? rather than ?read? national history. They absorbed lessons from the past more readily by attending Patriot?s Day orations and anniversary commemorations than by reading expensive, multi-volume works of patrician historians. By the late 1840s, however, innovations in publishing led to the marketing of inexpensive, mass-produced ?popular? histories that had a profound influence on historical literacy and learning in the United States.

Pfitzer charts the rise and fall of this genre, demonstrating how and why it was born, flourished, and then became unpopular over time.

Read more at the publisher?s Web site.