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About this item
Highlights
- Spreading the Word examines the ways in which easterners who traveled West during the California gold rush of 1849-51 obtained, assessed, and used information.
- About the Author: Richard T. Stillson has PhDs in both economics and history and has published articles on the theory and history of information in financial markets.
- 284 Pages
- History, United States
Description
Book Synopsis
Spreading the Word examines the ways in which easterners who traveled West during the California gold rush of 1849-51 obtained, assessed, and used information. At the beginning of the gold rush the scarcity of information about westward travel posed serious problems for potential gold seekers in the East. Though most knew the trip was dangerous and that proper preparation could mean the difference between life and death, few had any practical knowledge of the vast deserts and mountains of the West or, for that matter, of how to mine gold. Information was produced quickly as newspapers, publishers, and businessmen hastened to cash in on gold fever, but much of it was unreliable, contradictory, and changed frequently. Richard T. Stillson follows several gold rush companies across the country, gleaning from their letters and diaries a sense of how they obtained information and evaluated its constantly changing sources, how they attempted to learn where gold was, and what they wrote home, thus providing information to the next wave of gold seekers. As the companies gained experience, they reassessed knowledge and developed new modes of determining the credibility of new information. By providing a historical context for assessing information and by viewing communication strategies as a core element of the gold rush itself, Stillson reveals a connection between media, myth, and reality in the formative years of the nation's most volatile region.Review Quotes
"This is truly an important addition to the scholarship of the California Gold Rush. Unlike other accounts, Richard Stillson examines the Gold Rush from the beginning, analyzing the information systems utilized by the 49ers to make decisions as they moved west. Spreading the Word is a case study of information and communications mechanisms in the United States during the mid-nineteenth century, and as such is a new and vital contribution in American social, cultural, and even technological history."--Robert Phelps, Associate Professor of History, California State University, East Bay
"Very valuable . . . the highest possible level of research, scholarly analysis, and . . . vivid and effective writing. Spreading the Word is a pioneering discussion of communications culture in the mid-nineteenth century."--Kevin Starr, Professor of History at the University of Southern California and author of California: A History and Coast of Dreams
"This unique analysis of information providers and users during the California Gold Rush is a smart read. Much of what Stillson discusses relates to concerns of the media in the present day, especially in terms of prospectors trying to determine if the established media is credible or if they should be relying on 'local' reports, referred to today as citizen journalism. Stillson's book also includes useful appendixes to back up his intelligent, well-thought-out arguments. This book is a boon to the study of communications culture."--Meghan Saar, True West
-- (1/16/2007 12:00:00 AM)"Spreading the Word is an interesting and important study for the gold rush, California, and media historians. It is a significant fresh look at what many may consider an over examined subject. Stillson's research and methods are notable; his conclusions valid and logical. Most important are his contributions in showing how communication and technology, with its connection of media, myth, and reality, impacted society during the hazardous and exciting Gold Rush Era."--John D. Barton, Utah Historical Quarterly-- (7/3/2007 12:00:00 AM)
"[Spreading the Word] provides valuable insight regarding the spread of information and how individuals analyze and use information from various sources."--Patricia A. Etter, Journal of Arizona History
-- (2/14/2008 12:00:00 AM)
"[Stillson] provides a fascinating study that opens a new field for investigation and analysis in the history of both the American West and information dissemination. . . . Stillson provides an appreciation, not only of the difficulties of obtaining and using information by the goldrushers but also of the challenges of reconstructing the experience."--William E. Huntzicker, Journalism History
-- (11/16/2007 12:00:00 AM)
"Richard Stillson has opened up a new vein in the historical excavation of the California gold rush. . . . Spreading the Word marshals its evidence with skill and provides a well-crafted account that contributes both to North American social history and to our historical understanding of changing forms of information and communication. It is equally valuable on both counts."--European Journal of Communication-- (7/26/2007 12:00:00 AM)
"Scholars of the California gold rush, overland emigration, and communications history will find Spreading the Word an informative read. Stillson has found a new way of looking at the gold rush by focusing on 'how Americans from the East who went overland . . . obtained, assessed, and used information.' . . . . Spreading the Word is a pioneering work and an invitation to explore other facets of gold rush information history."--Benjamin Madley, Western Historical Quarterly -- (3/25/2008 12:00:00 AM)
"Stillson does an especially impressive job of tracking particular companies of migrants and narrating their movements through the lens of the maps they consulted, the news they consumed, and the experts they encountered. The bibliography is eminently useful, the illustrations are striking, and the volume of materials Stillson has analyzed underscores the importance (if not the authority) of writing and print in the experience of gold seekers, who formed, as the author notes, a distinctively literature large-scale migration."--David M. Henkin, American Historical Review -- (3/25/2008 12:00:00 AM)
"Stillson undertook a difficult task to transform knowledge into a 'commodity' and then measure it. He promised a new perspective on the gold rush and provides it."--Robert J. Chandler, Journal of American History-- (10/11/2007 12:00:00 AM)
About the Author
Richard T. Stillson has PhDs in both economics and history and has published articles on the theory and history of information in financial markets. He teaches history at George Mason University.Dimensions (Overall): 9.0 Inches (H) x 6.0 Inches (W) x .65 Inches (D)
Weight: .94 Pounds
Suggested Age: 22 Years and Up
Sub-Genre: United States
Genre: History
Number of Pages: 284
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
Theme: 19th Century
Format: Paperback
Author: Richard T Stillson
Language: English
Street Date: May 1, 2008
TCIN: 89302602
UPC: 9780803218277
Item Number (DPCI): 247-06-8936
Origin: Made in the USA or Imported
Shipping details
Estimated ship dimensions: 0.65 inches length x 6 inches width x 9 inches height
Estimated ship weight: 0.94 pounds
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