SKU: 16592077402

How the Post Office Created America: A History

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How the Post Office Created America: A History"'The history of its Post Office is nothing less than the story of America, ' Ms. Gallagher's opening sentence declares, and in this lively book she makes the case well." Wall Street Journal A masterful history of a long underappreciated institution, How the Post Office Created America examines the surprising role of the postal service in our nation's political, social, economic, and physical development. The founders established the post office

"'The history of its Post Office is nothing less than the story of America, ' Ms. Gallagher's opening sentence declares, and in this lively book she makes the case well."--Wall Street Journal

A masterful history of a long underappreciated institution, How the Post Office Created America examines the surprising role of the postal service in our nation's political, social, economic, and physical development.

The founders established the post office before they had even signed the Declaration of Independence, and for a very long time, it was the U.S. government's largest and most important endeavor--indeed, it was the government for most citizens. This was no conventional mail network but the central nervous system of the new body politic, designed to bind thirteen quarrelsome colonies into the United States by delivering news about public affairs to every citizen--a radical idea that appalled Europe's great powers. America's uniquely democratic post powerfully shaped its lively, argumentative culture of uncensored ideas and opinions and made it the world's information and communications superpower with astonishing speed.

Winifred Gallagher presents the history of the post office as America's own story, told from a fresh perspective over more than two centuries. The mandate to deliver the mail--then "the media"--imposed the federal footprint on vast, often contested parts of the continent and transformed a wilderness into a social landscape of post roads and villages centered on post offices. The post was the catalyst of the nation's transportation grid, from the stagecoach lines to the airlines, and the lifeline of the great migration from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It enabled America to shift from an agrarian to an industrial economy and to develop the publishing industry, the consumer culture, and the political party system. Still one of the country's two major civilian employers, the post was the first to hire women, African Americans, and other minorities for positions in public life.

Starved by two world wars and the Great Depression, confronted with the country's increasingly anti-institutional mind-set, and struggling with its doubled mail volume, the post stumbled badly in the turbulent 1960s. Distracted by the ensuing modernization of its traditional services, however, it failed to transition from paper mail to email, which prescient observers saw as its logical next step. Now the post office is at a crossroads. Before deciding its future, Americans should understand what this grand yet overlooked institution has accomplished since 1775 and consider what it should and could contribute in the twenty-first century.

Gallagher argues that now, more than ever before, the imperiled post office deserves this effort, because just as the founders anticipated, it created forward-looking, communication-oriented, idea-driven America.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books
Published: 07/04/2017
ISBN: 9780143130062
Pages: 336
Weight: 0.65lbs
Size: 8.30h x 5.40w x 0.80d
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SKU: 16592077402

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I am super picky when it comes to dog treats. Do my research and this treat has proven to be a great find for my pup. The minimal ingredient list is fantastic and there is no crap that shouldn’t be there. They are smaller pieces but look fresh and my dog cannot get enough! They are low calorie and great alternatives to other treats sold with fillers and chemicals that harm our fur babies! Highly recommend these. My dog eats them with vigor! Healthy snacks!
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I love that these are one ingredient treats. The quality is great, my dogs love the taste, and their appearance looks great without a bunch of additives. The texture is nice and the ridges in the cuts do help with cleaning my dogs teeth a bit. They are fairly expensive for what they are. These are great if you don’t have the time to make your own.
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Only one ingredient
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I really like that. The product had only one ingredient which was sweet potatoes. They were well packaged in a reclosable bag. However, my dogs (a Morkie and a Malti-tzu) had no interest in them and would not even try it. I passed it on to someone else to try for their Shiba Inu.
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