What did young; independent women do for fun and how did they pay their way into New York City's turn-of-the-century pleasure places? Cheap Amusements is a fascinating discussion of young working women whose meager wages often fell short of bare subsistence and rarely allowed for entertainment expenses. Kathy Peiss follows working women into saloons; dance halls; Coney Island amusement parks; social clubs; and nickelodeons to explore the culture of these young women between 1880 and 1920 as expressed in leisure activities. By examining the rituals and styles they adopted and placing that culture in the larger context of urban working-class life; she offers us a complex picture of the dynamics shaping a working woman's experience and consciousness at the turn-of-the-century. Not only does her analysis lead us to new insights into working-class culture; changing social relations between single men and women; and urban courtship; but it also gives us a fuller understanding of the cultural transformations that gave rise to the commercialization of leisure. The early twentieth century witnessed the emergence of "heterosocial companionship" as a dominant ideology of gender; affirming mixed-sex patterns of social interaction; in contrast to the nineteenth century's segregated spheres. Cheap Amusements argues that a crucial part of the "reorientation of American culture" originated from below; specifically in the subculture of working women to be found in urban dance halls and amusement resorts.
#1991631 in Books Northern Illinois University Press 1994-04-01Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.00 x .90 x 6.00l; 1.21 #File Name: 0875801846219 pages
Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Fascinating First-Hand NarrativeBy EJaneThis is a fascinating and touching first-hand account of the struggles of an honest hard-working railroad man through the upheavals of the War and its aftermath. Despite his difficulties in an era without strong unions; he touchingly pays tribute to the capitalists who took the risks to build the railroads and give him work.2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Nimrod J. Bell is the brother of my ancestor...By Melinda in Texas"Southern Railroad Man: Conductor N. J. Bell's Recollections" is such a joy to read. Many of my forebearers were railroad men. Nimrod J. Bell tells it "like it was" in the early days of railroading in the South. It was not easy; had no extra financial benefits such as insurance and retirement benefits. Whenever he was injured; he could not work and earned no money. But he obviously loved the railroads - he discovered his first engine as a teenager when visiting Atlanta; which was quite a walk from another county. He and some other relatives served the Confederacy by transporting troops and supplies. This obscure work was discovered by a professor at a university and was published by him.3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Day to day railroading during the Civil WarBy CBR76I work as a conductor for a freight line and became intersted in the history of railroading beyond the stuff written by historians and train buffs about the Robber Barons and the building of the Trans-Continental Railroad. Bell worked for the early southern railroads when men were made of steel and the boxcars were made of wood. A pulitzer prize winner it is not; but well worth the read if you want to know how they did it way back then.