{"product_id":"securing-the-commonwealth-debt-speculation-and-writing-in-the-making-of-early-america-paperback","title":"Securing the Commonwealth: Debt, Speculation, and Writing in the Making of Early America - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eJennifer J. Baker\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSecuring the Commonwealth examines how eighteenth-century American writers understood the highly speculative financial times in which they lived. Spanning a century of cultural and literary life, this study shows how the era's literature commonly depicted an American ethos of risk taking and borrowing as the peculiar product of New World daring and the exigencies of revolution and nation building. Some of the century's most important writers, including Cotton Mather, Benjamin Franklin, Royall Tyler, Charles Brockden Brown, and Judith Sargent Murray, believed that economic and social commonwealth-and one's commitment to that commonwealth-might be grounded in indebtedness and financial insecurity. These writers believed a cash-poor colony or nation could not only advance itself through borrowing but also gain reputability each time it successfully paid off a loan. Equally important, they believed that debt could promote communality: precarious public credit structures could exact popular commitment; intricate financial networks could bind individuals to others and to their government; and indebtedness itself could evoke sympathy for the suffering of others. Close readings of their literary works reveal how these writers imagined that public life might be shaped by economic experience, and how they understood the public life of literature itself. Insecure times strengthened their conviction that writing could be publicly serviceable, persuading readers to invest in their government, in their fellow Americans, and in the idea of America itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eFront Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003ci\u003eSecuring the Commonwealth\u003c\/i\u003e examines how eighteenth-century American writers--including Cotton Mather, Benjamin Franklin, Royall Tyler, Charles Brockden Brown, and Judith Sargent Murray--understood the highly speculative financial times in which they lived. Spanning a century of cultural and literary life, this study shows how the era's literature commonly depicted an American ethos of risk taking and borrowing as the peculiar product of New World daring and the exigencies of revolution and nation building. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAn incisive new study . . . Baker conceptualizes her readings in pathbreaking ways.--\u003ci\u003eAmerican Literature\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA thought-provoking gem of a book . . . All historians and literary critics with an interest in eighteenth-century economic culture will want to read it.--\u003ci\u003eWilliam and Mary Quarterly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBaker's argument is instructive and well founded.--\u003ci\u003eJournal of American History\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBoth a primer educating one into the financial thinking of early Anglo-America and a testament to the energy and creativity with which successive generations of provincials imagined commerce as a process of mediation.--\u003ci\u003eEarly American Literature\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBaker has written an incisive, provocative, sparkling book.--\u003ci\u003eAmerican Antiquarian Society\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHistorically astute study.--\u003ci\u003eJournal of the Early Republic\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBaker brings a fresh and critical eye to works already well-known to specialists but probably unfamiliar to historians in general.--\u003ci\u003eJournal of Interdisciplinary History\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAstute and surprisingly lively volume . . . Highly recommended.--\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003eJennifer J. Baker\u003c\/b\u003e is an assistant professor of English at New York University.\u003c\/p\u003e--Jay Fliegelman, Stanford University \"American Historical Review\"\u003ch3\u003eBack Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eSecuring the Commonwealth\u003c\/i\u003e examines how eighteenth-century American writers--including Cotton Mather, Benjamin Franklin, Royall Tyler, Charles Brockden Brown, and Judith Sargent Murray--understood the highly speculative financial times in which they lived. Spanning a century of cultural and literary life, this study shows how the era's literature commonly depicted an American ethos of risk taking and borrowing as the peculiar product of New World daring and the exigencies of revolution and nation building. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"An incisive new study . . . Baker conceptualizes her readings in pathbreaking ways.\"--\u003ci\u003eAmerican Literature\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"A thought-provoking gem of a book . . . All historians and literary critics with an interest in eighteenth-century economic culture will want to read it.\"--\u003ci\u003eWilliam and Mary Quarterly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Baker's argument is instructive and well founded.\"--\u003ci\u003eJournal of American History\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Both a primer educating one into the financial thinking of early Anglo-America and a testament to the energy and creativity with which successive generations of provincials imagined commerce as a process of mediation.\"--\u003ci\u003eEarly American Literature\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Baker has written an incisive, provocative, sparkling book.\"--\u003ci\u003eAmerican Antiquarian Society\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Historically astute study.\"--\u003ci\u003eJournal of the Early Republic\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Baker brings a fresh and critical eye to works already well-known to specialists but probably unfamiliar to historians in general.\"--\u003ci\u003eJournal of Interdisciplinary History\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Astute and surprisingly lively volume . . . Highly recommended.\"--\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eJennifer J. Baker\u003c\/b\u003e is an assistant professor of English at New York University.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eJennifer J. Baker \u003c\/b\u003eis an assistant professor of English at New York University.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 232\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.78 x 9.31 x 5.78 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e December 20, 2007\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53301263434035,"sku":"9780801889691","price":59.92,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0300\/5595\/6612\/files\/ShRJBKGb0E9780801889691.webp?v=1777508037","url":"https:\/\/www.vysn.com\/en-ca\/products\/securing-the-commonwealth-debt-speculation-and-writing-in-the-making-of-early-america-paperback","provider":"VYSN","version":"1.0","type":"link"}