| Rip Van Winkle's Neighbors: The Transformation of Rural Society in the Hudson River Valley, 1720-1850 Contributor(s): Wermuth, Thomas S. (Author) |
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ISBN: 079145083X ISBN-13: 9780791450833 Publisher: State University of New York Press OUR PRICE: $90.25 Product Type: Hardcover Published: October 2001 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | Social History - History | United States - State & Local - General |
| Dewey: 303.409 |
| LCCN: 00054909 |
| Series: Suny Series, an American Region: Studies in the Hudson Valle |
| Physical Information: 0.09" H x 5.3" W x 8.42" (0.85 lbs) 198 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 18th Century - Chronological Period - 19th Century - Cultural Region - Mid-Atlantic - Geographic Orientation - New Jersey - Geographic Orientation - New York |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Although Rip Van Winkle was a fictional character, his community in the mid-Hudson Valley of New York State was very real. Thomas S. Wermuth's book shows that the popular view of Hudson Valley farmers as self-sufficient, independent, and free of governmental authority is as fictional as the character of Rip Van Winkle himself. In fact these mid-Hudson farmers lived in villages where economic practices and behavior were regulated by civil authorities as well as neighborhood concerns, and where acquisitive practices that were believed to endanger the public good were forbidden. Based on extensive research into previously unused town records and commercial accounts, this book challenges the belief that the early valley was a capitalist society, arguing that the beliefs and practices associated with modern capitalism developed slowly and unevenly, and were not always welcomed by valley families. |
