Bodies of Reform: The Rhetoric of Character in Gilded Age America (America and the Long 19th Century)

Bodies of Reform: The Rhetoric of Character in Gilded Age America (America and the Long 19th Century) Review

From the patricians of the early republic to post-Reconstruction racial scientists, from fin de siècle progressivist social reformers to post-war sociologists, character, that curiously formable yet equally formidable “stuff,” has had a long and checkered history giving shape to the American national identity.

Bodies of Reform reconceives this pivotal category of nineteenth-century literature and culture by charting the development of the concept of “character” in the fictional genres, social reform movements, and political cultures of the United States from the mid-nineteenth to the early-twentieth century. By reading novelists such as Herman Melville, Mark Twain, Pauline Hopkins, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman alongside a diverse collection of texts concerned with the mission of building character, including child-rearing guides, muscle-building magazines, libel and naturalization law, Scout handbooks, and success manuals, James B. Salazar uncovers how the cultural practices of representing character operated in tandem with the character-building strategies of social reformers. His innovative reading of this archive offers a radical revision of this defining category in U.S. literature and culture, arguing that character was the keystone of a cultural politics of embodiment, a politics that played a critical role in determining-and contesting-the social mobility, political authority, and cultural meaning of the raced and gendered body.

A Century of Royal Doulton Character & Toby Jugs

A Century of Royal Doulton Character & Toby Jugs Review

The most comprehensive book available on Royal Doulton ceramic character and toby jugs. Lavishly illustrated with 1,760 large photos of more than 800 separate jugs and derivatives. Includes photos of every production piece of the past century, plus more than 100 prototype jugs, many never seen before in print, and scores of photographs of trial colorway jugs. The scope, details and pictorial abundance set this book apart from any other reference on the subject. Four major sections provide, in alphabetical order by character, a large color photograph of each character in all of its sizes; a biographical or historical profile including size, modeler and model number; and production history. Photographs of backstamps, trial colorways, and close-ups of intricate handles. Prototype jugs that never made it into production are given similar treatment throughout the book. A substantial Appendix provides lists and tables to help readers navigate through the sizes, types, backstamps, modelers, model numbers, etc., and pre-prototype clay models. This book is an essential reference book for serious Royal Doulton jug collectors, general antiques and collectibles enthusiasts, and dealers. This book is a "must have" reference book for every serious Royal Doulton jug collector, as well as the general antique and collectible enthusiast and dealer.