Article Report

The article that my report focuses on is “A Framework for the History of Publishing and Reading in the United States, 1880-1940.” This article edited by Carl F. Kaestle and Janice A. Radway explains the way that print forms have changed and influenced society over a specific period of time. They describe how during the time period from 1880-1940 communication technology, especially print made huge strides and changed in many ways. A lot of these changes were due to the increases in the speed of production and transportation. The authors talk a lot about the communication revolution and how it went hand in hand with the development of corporate capitalism. Overall, the article does a great job of explaining the importance of print during this period of time and the impact that print had on the culture of the people during that time. I think that the authors of this article are trying to claim that print is a very powerful technology and that the history of print culture is rather complex and we must look into all aspects that are involved to really understand the impact that print culture can have on a society. I agree with the authors that print is a technology of power and that it can be used to control and influence a society.

This article comes from one book in a multi-volume series of books about the history of the book and print culture. This article was published as one of the chapters in the fourth volume of the series, which was published in 2009. This article along with the rest in the series are intended to be a source of scholarly information for an audience looking for research on the history of the book and print culture. One of the editors of this article Carl F. Kaestle is currently a Professor of Education, History and Public Policy at Brown University and previously worked at both the University of Chicago and University of Wisconsin-Madison. Kaestle graduated with a B.A. from Yale and with a Masters and Ph.D. from Harvard. He was also formerly the president of the National Academy of Education and has held many other prestigious positions in his fields of study. Kaestle is a well-respected professor and researcher. Janice A. Radway, the second editor, has been a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Northwestern University and Duke University. She holds a B.A. from Michigan State University, a Masters from SUNY Stony Brook and a Ph.D. from Michigan State University. Radway has also served as an editor of American Quarterly and was the president of the American Studies Association. Both editors are extremely experienced and have great authority and respect in their fields of study and as editors. Their excellence as editors is only further supported by the reviews of their publication. Review after review rave about the brilliance of their publication, “A History of the Book in America.” Just one example from The Journal of Scholarly Publishing says, “A model of scholarly publication and institutional cooperation… A timely achievement and a great one…” Other excellent reviews came from Humanities Magazine, The Journal of American History, and many esteemed professors at various institutions. It is clear that this article along with the rest of the publication is a well-respected and quality work of information on the history of the book and print culture in America.