Description
Book SynopsisWith annotated footnotes, this work explores the debate over manners, morals, and cultural authority in the decades following American Revolution. It also includes an introduction that provides readers with a background on life and politics in the United States in 1787, when Americans were in the midst of nation-building.
Trade ReviewI can think of no other text of the period that lays out the drive toward transparency more clearly or denigrates coquettes and libertines more entertainingly. The play is a pivotal piece of American cultural history -- Norma Basch,author of Framing American Divorce: From the Revolutionary Generation to the Victorians
The Contrast makes a real contribution to the existing scholarship on this period, it has great appeal for classroom use, and it puts back in print an amusing play that is instrumental in understanding critical issues in the new nation. The play The Contrast centers on gender roles, relations, and expectations, mocking the gender stereotypes of the day and is a rich source for understanding a host of political and social issues in the Early Republic. It is funnyeven to a modern audienceand replete with literary references. -- Charlene M. Boyer Lewis,author of Ladies and Gentlemen on Display: Planter Society at the Virginia Springs, 1790-1860
This powerful and lively package of primary materials and historical context will demonstrate how historical & forces play themselves out on the ground. Kierners collection offers a fresh lens on a new world struggling into being and will inspire teachers and students of all ages alike. -- Catherine Allgor,author of A Perfect Union: Dolley Madison and the Creation of the American Nation
&Kierners new edition of this play should win it a much wider modern audience. Kierner highlights the many historical themes of the play with a fine introduction and facilitates deeper understanding of those issues with a wonderfully chosen set of additional primary documents. The resulting book could be used with profit in any early American history course. * The North Carolina Historical Review *
Table of ContentsContentsList of Illustrations Preface1 Introduction 2 The Contrast by Royall Tyler 3 Primary Documents A. Arts and Literature in Post-Revolutionary America B. Virtues and Vices of the Theater C. Lord Chester?eld and His Critics D. The Follies of FashionE. The Ideal WifeF. The Ideal Husband G. Educating American YouthH. The Meaning of Equality Suggested Reading Index About the Author IllustrationsAdvertisement for The Contrast, 1787 Frontispiece from the Columbian Magazine, 1789 The Declaration of Independence, by John Trumbull, 1787 Royall Tyler Plan of the City of New York, 1789 George Washington, by Jean-Antoine Houdon, 1785-1792 Title page from The Contrast, 1790 Frontispiece from The Contrast, 1790 Miss Carolina Sullivan, 1776 The Toilet, 1786 A Morning Ramble, or, The Milliner's Shop, 1782 The Copley Family, by John Singleton Copley, 1776-1777 The Washington Family, by Edward Savage, 1789-1796
