Discerning Characters: The Culture of Appearance in Early America
Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011. First. Hardbound. Black boards with red-orange illustrated DJ, [viii] 319pp, 27 BW illustrations. VG+, DJ edges show slight use. Item #126230
ISBN: 9780812242874
From the publisher--This book explores how early Americans grappled with the relationship between appearance and social distinction in the decades between the American Revolution and the Civil War. Through a wide range of evidence, including canonical and obscure novels, newspapers, periodicals, scientific and medical treatises, and plays as well as conduct manuals, portraits, silhouettes, and engravings, Discerning Characters charts the transition from the eighteenth century's emphasis on performance and manners to the search for a more reliable form of corporeal legibility in the wake of the Revolution. The emergence of physiognomy, which sought to understand a person's character based on apparently unchanging facial features, facilitated a larger shift in perception about the meanings of physical appearance and its relationship to social distinction.
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