| Description |
1 online resource (xvi, 255 pages) : illustrations |
| Contents |
Unveiling the Jewelers' clock -- Time's tongue and hands: the first public clocks in the United States -- Clockwatching: the uneasy authority of clocks and watches in antebellum America -- Republican heirlooms, instruments of modern time discipline: pocket watches during and after the Civil War -- Noon, November 18, 1883: the abolition of local time, the debut of a national standard -- American synchronicity: turn-of-the-century tower clocks, street clocks, and time balls -- Monuments and monstrosities: the apex of the public clock era |
| Summary |
McCrossen relates how the American preoccupation with time led people from across social classes to acquire watches and clocks. While noting the difficulties in regulating and synchronising so many timepieces, the book expands our understanding of the development of modern time discipline, delving into the ways we have standardised time and describing how timekeepers have served as political, social, and cultural tools in a society that does not merely value time, but regards access to time as a natural-born right, a privilege of being an American |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Notes |
Print version record |
| Subject |
Clocks and watches -- United States -- History -- 19th century
|
|
Clocks and watches -- United States -- History -- 20th century
|
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TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING -- Technical & Manufacturing Industries & Trades.
|
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Clocks and watches
|
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United States
|
| Genre/Form |
History
|
| Form |
Electronic book
|
| LC no. |
2012045005 |
| ISBN |
9781299276598 |
|
1299276598 |
|
9780226015057 |
|
022601505X |
|
