Home on the Rails

Women, the Railroad, and the Rise of Public Domesticity

Nonfiction, Reference & Language, Transportation, Railroads, History, Americas, United States, 19th Century, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Gender Studies, Women&
Cover of the book Home on the Rails by Amy G. Richter, 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: Amy G. Richter ISBN: 9780807876473
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press Publication: March 13, 2006
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press Language: English
Author: Amy G. Richter
ISBN: 9780807876473
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
Publication: March 13, 2006
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press
Language: English

Recognizing the railroad's importance as both symbol and experience in Victorian America, Amy G. Richter follows women travelers onto trains and considers the consequences of their presence there.

For a time, Richter argues, nineteenth-century Americans imagined the public realm as a chaotic and dangerous place full of potential, where various groups came together, collided, and influenced one another, for better or worse. The example of the American railroad reveals how, by the beginning of the twentieth century, this image was replaced by one of a domesticated public realm--a public space in which both women and men increasingly strove to make themselves "at home."

Through efforts that ranged from the homey touches of railroad car decor to advertising images celebrating female travelers and legal cases sanctioning gender-segregated spaces, travelers and railroad companies transformed the railroad from a place of risk and almost unlimited social mixing into one in which white men and women alleviated the stress of unpleasant social contact. Making themselves "at home" aboard the trains, white men and women domesticated the railroad for themselves and paved the way for a racially segregated and class-stratified public space that freed women from the home yet still preserved the railroad as a masculine domain.

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

Recognizing the railroad's importance as both symbol and experience in Victorian America, Amy G. Richter follows women travelers onto trains and considers the consequences of their presence there.

For a time, Richter argues, nineteenth-century Americans imagined the public realm as a chaotic and dangerous place full of potential, where various groups came together, collided, and influenced one another, for better or worse. The example of the American railroad reveals how, by the beginning of the twentieth century, this image was replaced by one of a domesticated public realm--a public space in which both women and men increasingly strove to make themselves "at home."

Through efforts that ranged from the homey touches of railroad car decor to advertising images celebrating female travelers and legal cases sanctioning gender-segregated spaces, travelers and railroad companies transformed the railroad from a place of risk and almost unlimited social mixing into one in which white men and women alleviated the stress of unpleasant social contact. Making themselves "at home" aboard the trains, white men and women domesticated the railroad for themselves and paved the way for a racially segregated and class-stratified public space that freed women from the home yet still preserved the railroad as a masculine domain.

More books from The University of North Carolina Press

Cover of the book Sound States by Amy G. Richter
Cover of the book From Slavery to Agrarian Capitalism in the Cotton Plantation South by Amy G. Richter
Cover of the book Crescent City Girls by Amy G. Richter
Cover of the book Richard S. Ewell by Amy G. Richter
Cover of the book A History of the Oratorio by Amy G. Richter
Cover of the book The Republic according to John Marshall Harlan by Amy G. Richter
Cover of the book Crabs and Oysters by Amy G. Richter
Cover of the book Atlantic Bonds by Amy G. Richter
Cover of the book Muslim Networks from Hajj to Hip Hop by Amy G. Richter
Cover of the book Us versus Them by Amy G. Richter
Cover of the book Journal of the Civil War Era by Amy G. Richter
Cover of the book The United States and the Making of Modern Greece by Amy G. Richter
Cover of the book The Cold War at Home by Amy G. Richter
Cover of the book A Shattered Nation by Amy G. Richter
Cover of the book The Place of Stone by Amy G. Richter
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