David Henkin 238 pages softcover
Many of us may not realize that what we now call snail mail was once
just as revolutionary as e-mail and text messages are today. As David M.
Henkin argues in
The Postal Age, a burgeoning postal network initiated major
cultural shifts during the nineteenth century, laying the foundation for
the interconnectedness that now defines our ever-evolving world of
telecommunications.
This fascinating history traces these shifts from their
beginnings in the mid-1800s, when cheaper postage, mass literacy, and
migration combined to make the long-established postal service a more
integral and viable part of everyday life. Through original
correspondence and public discussions from the time period, Henkin tells
the story of how Americans adjusted to a new world of long-distance
correspondence, crowded post offices, junk mail, valentines, and dead
letters. Throughout,
The Postal Age paints a vibrant picture of a society where possibilities proliferated for personal and impersonal communications.