American Alchemy

The California Gold Rush and Middle-Class Culture

Nonfiction, History, Americas, United States, State & Local, 19th Century
Cover of the book American Alchemy by Brian Roberts, The University of North Carolina Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Brian Roberts ISBN: 9780807860939
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press Publication: June 19, 2003
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press Language: English
Author: Brian Roberts
ISBN: 9780807860939
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
Publication: June 19, 2003
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press
Language: English

California during the gold rush was a place of disputed claims, shoot-outs, gambling halls, and prostitution; a place populated by that rough and rebellious figure, the forty-niner; in short, a place that seems utterly unconnected to middle-class culture. In American Alchemy, however, Brian Roberts offers a surprising challenge to this assumption.

Roberts points to a long-neglected truth of the gold rush: many of the northeastern forty-niners who ventured westward were in fact middle-class in origin, status, and values. Tracing the experiences and adventures both of these men and of the "unseen" forty-niners--women who stayed back East while their husbands went out West--he shows that, whatever else the gold seekers abandoned on the road to California, they did not simply turn their backs on middle-class culture.

Ultimately, Roberts argues, the story told here reveals an overlooked chapter in the history of the formation of the middle class. While the acquisition of respectability reflects one stage in this history, he says, the gold rush constitutes a second stage--a rebellion against standards of respectability.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

California during the gold rush was a place of disputed claims, shoot-outs, gambling halls, and prostitution; a place populated by that rough and rebellious figure, the forty-niner; in short, a place that seems utterly unconnected to middle-class culture. In American Alchemy, however, Brian Roberts offers a surprising challenge to this assumption.

Roberts points to a long-neglected truth of the gold rush: many of the northeastern forty-niners who ventured westward were in fact middle-class in origin, status, and values. Tracing the experiences and adventures both of these men and of the "unseen" forty-niners--women who stayed back East while their husbands went out West--he shows that, whatever else the gold seekers abandoned on the road to California, they did not simply turn their backs on middle-class culture.

Ultimately, Roberts argues, the story told here reveals an overlooked chapter in the history of the formation of the middle class. While the acquisition of respectability reflects one stage in this history, he says, the gold rush constitutes a second stage--a rebellion against standards of respectability.

More books from The University of North Carolina Press

Cover of the book Negotiating Paradise by Brian Roberts
Cover of the book What Is a Madrasa? by Brian Roberts
Cover of the book Louis Austin and the Carolina Times by Brian Roberts
Cover of the book Looking for Longleaf by Brian Roberts
Cover of the book The Making of Middlebrow Culture by Brian Roberts
Cover of the book Battling the Plantation Mentality by Brian Roberts
Cover of the book Hurtin' Words by Brian Roberts
Cover of the book The Economic Diplomacy of the Suez Crisis by Brian Roberts
Cover of the book Medicalizing Blackness by Brian Roberts
Cover of the book Taking the Hard Road by Brian Roberts
Cover of the book Israel and the Western Powers, 1952-1960 by Brian Roberts
Cover of the book Faithful Magistrates and Republican Lawyers by Brian Roberts
Cover of the book Distilling the South by Brian Roberts
Cover of the book The Charlotte Observer by Brian Roberts
Cover of the book Endless Caverns by Brian Roberts
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy