The Antebellum Crisis and America's First Bohemians
eBook - ePub

The Antebellum Crisis and America's First Bohemians

  1. 192 pages
  2. English
  3. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

The Antebellum Crisis and America's First Bohemians

About this book

Cultural politics and American bohemians in pre–Civil War New York

Amid the social and political tensions plaguing the United States in the years leading up to the Civil War, the North experienced a boom of cultural activity. Young transient writers, artists, and musicians settled in northern cities in pursuit of fame and fortune. Calling themselves "bohemians" after the misidentified homeland of the Roma immigrants to France, they established a coffeehouse society to share their thoughts and creative visions. Popularized by the press, bohemians became known for romantic, unorthodox notions of literature and the arts that transformed nineteenth–century artistic culture.

Bohemian influence reached well beyond the arts, however. Building on midcentury abolitionist, socialist, and free labor sentiments, bohemians also flirted with political radicalism and social revolution. Advocating free love, free men, and free labor, bohemian ideas had a profound effect on the debate that raged among the splintered political factions in the North, including the fledgling Republican Party from which President Lincoln was ultimately elected in 1860.

Focusing on the overlapping nature of culture and politics, historian Mark A. Lause delves into the world of antebellum bohemians and the newspapermen who surrounded them, including Ada Clare, Henry Clapp, and Charles Pfaff, and explores the origins and influence of bohemianism in 1850s New York. Against the backdrop of the looming Civil War, The Antebellum Crisis and America's First Bohemians combines solid research with engaging storytelling to offer readers new insights into the forces that shaped events in the prewar years.

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Yes, you can access The Antebellum Crisis and America's First Bohemians by Mark A. Lause in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in History & American Civil War History. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title
  3. Copyright
  4. Contents
  5. Introduction
  6. 1. The King of Bohemia: Henry Clapp, American Cosmopolite
  7. 2. A Scandal in Bohemia: Free Love and the Antebellum American Culture Wars
  8. 3. Utopia on Broadway: Charles Pfaff’s Saloon and the Power of the Pen
  9. 4. Liberty and Coercion: Red Republicans, Black Republicans, and the Republic of Letters
  10. 5. Representing Alienation: The Republican Civilization and Its Discontents
  11. Conclusion: Iconoclasts in Iconic Times
  12. Notes
  13. Bibliography
  14. Index