Handwriting in America: A Cultural History: Thornton, Tamara Plakins: 9780300074413: Amazon.com: Books

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Tamara Plakins Thornton

Handwriting in America: A Cultural History Paperback – Illustrated, May 25, 1998

by Tamara Plakins Thornton (Author)

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Copybooks and the Palmer method, handwriting analysis and autograph collecting―these words conjure up a lost world, in which people looked to handwriting as both a lesson in conformity and a talisman of individuality. In this engaging history, ranging from colonial times to the present, Tamara Plakins Thornton explores the shifting functions and meanings of handwriting in America.

Script emerged in the eighteenth century as a medium intimately associated with the self, says Thornton, in contrast to the impersonality of print. But thereafter, just what kind of self would be defined or revealed in script was debated in the context of changing economic and social realities, definitions of manhood and womanhood, and concepts of mind and body. Thornton details the parties to these disputes: writing masters who used penmanship training to form and discipline character; scientific experts who chalked up variations in script to mere physiological idiosyncrasy; and autograph collectors and handwriting analysts who celebrated signatures that broke copybook rules as marks of personality, revealing the uniqueness of the self. In our time, concludes Thornton, when handwriting skills seem altogether obsolete, calligraphy revivals and calls for old-fashioned penmanship training reflect nostalgia and the rejection of modernity.

Print length

264 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Yale University Press
Publication date

May 25, 1998
Dimensions

9.22 x 6.1 x 0.68 inches
ISBN-10

0300074417
ISBN-13

978-0300074413
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Yale University Press; n Later printing edition (May 25, 1998)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 264 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0300074417
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0300074413
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.4 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 9.22 x 6.1 x 0.68 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,138,670 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,185 in Handwriting Reference (Books)
- #10,623 in Popular Culture in Social Sciences
- #13,699 in Cultural Anthropology (Books)

Customer Reviews:
11 ratings

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Daniel A. Demski

An Entertaining Read

Reviewed in the United States on October 14, 2016

Verified Purchase

This in an excellent and thoughtful history of American handwriting. I read it a few years ago, and now it's the sort of book I can't imagine not having read; it's now part of how I think. In only a minor way perhaps, but still, it is so. It would be improved a bit by higher print quality on the illustrations. I don't know if the hardcover version does better there.

2 people found this helpful

Julia Stavenhagen

Especially satisfied

Reviewed in the United States on April 8, 2020

Verified Purchase

The custom-made envelope for the book was a lovely touch. Thank you!

Marvelous book!

Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2012

Verified Purchase

Such a comprehensive history of handwriting, so well researched and a joy to read. I would recommend this to anyone interested in cultural or social history.

5 people found this helpful

James D. Crabtree

Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2014

Verified Purchase

So far as I could make out, this book simply obsesses on handwriting and "gender issues." It barely discusses handwriting techniques and how they were taught (except when it fusses over "physical restraint" in handwriting). Some of the "ideas" it looks at sound as far'fetched as some of the stuff I've read about graphology theory. There are other, better books on this subject. Script and Scribble comes to mind.

4 people found this helpful

Robert V. Rose, retired education researcher

A fascinating history of handwriting teaching in our schools

Reviewed in the United States on August 26, 2015

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Most of this book seems to be written from the typical university left-wing point of view, in which handwriting practice in years gone by was just a way of making conforming "assembly line" citizens for capitalists.

But at the end of the book, Professor Thornton seems to realize that the pendulum has swung too far, and that today's pampered youth could use a bit of discipline in school.

I only hope she will soon realizing that fluent handwriting is a key to literacy and to education reform, which is now apparent from so many on-line articles.

4 people found this helpful

Reviewed in the United States on September 1, 2013

Verified Purchase

I am reviewing handwriting history for a presentation and I could not get interested in this book. I found the chapters to be too full of information. I certainly learned about the development of handwriting and have just skimmed the book rather then reading it.

4 people found this helpful

Handwriting in America: A Cultural History

Reviewed in the United States on April 11, 2009

An interesting book, but it should have been titled "The Teaching of Handwriting in America". Also, it missed a kind of writing which I can't name, but know when I see it - for example, something like "California" on California auto license tags. It was taught in America, and it was the model in England for many years - a Life magazine article around 1950 showed such examples from the winners in an English schoolboy competition. (My father learned this style in a preparatory school in the South in the early 1900s, and one of our daughters-in-law was taught the same way.)
One reviewer adversely criticized this book for harping on, perhaps even imagining, sexism in the early teaching of handwriting, and I don't think the comment was deserved - I believe the author was accurately describing what was actually taught, and gave it no more space than is warranted.

21 people found this helpful

It's a brilliant exploration of how theories of handwriting have evolved in ...

Reviewed in the United States on September 7, 2015

I'm sorry to see that this book only has one Amazon review. It's a brilliant exploration of how theories of handwriting have evolved in tandem with theories of the self. It's one of the books that most strongly influenced my dissertation research.

3 people found this helpful

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