Listening to Nineteenth-Century America

“Well written and innovative in its approach, this book complicates and enriches the discussion of why sectionalism developed in the 1830s through the 1850s and how it contributed to the Civil War.” — North Carolina Historical Review

“[Listening to Nineteenth-Century America] is an eye-opening — or more to the point, ear-opening — exercise in the retrieval of potentially lost knowledge. Mark Smith’s wonderful study of the 'aural landscape' of nineteenth-century America deplores the historiographical privileging of the visual sense.” — Journal of American Studies

“The story of how the study of the sounds of everyday life help us to understand the coming of the Civil War, the war itself, and some of the politics of Reconstruction by giving a new dimension to a traditional historiography. . . . An exciting study that illuminates new areas of historical investigation.” — Civil War Book Review

“Mark M. Smith ranks among the most original and innovative contemporary southern historians. He focuses analytically and creatively on questions virtually ignored by previous scholars, rereading long-familiar sources and forcing us to rethink basic components of the southern past. Smith consistently raises our consciousness to subtle and not-so-subtle forces that figured into the North-South dialogue.” — Georgia Historical Quarterly

“What were the sounds of slavery, riots, steam-driven factories, and commerce before the Civil War? By asking such questions, Smith makes antebellum America more palpable to present-day readers.” — Doubletake

“In this fascinating study Mark M. Smith analyzes how sound and the heard world contributed to the formation of sectional identities during the antebellum period; how the Civil War and Reconstruction changed the nation’s listening habits; and how postbellum Americans reinterpreted the country’s soundscapes. . . . Most historians of the nineteenth century privilege the world of sight and vision both in their choice of source material and in their analysis of those sources. Smith shows the limits of such an approach. He teaches us how meaningful sound was to the people of the nineteenth century and how useful an awareness of the heard world can be for historians seeking to understand the past in a more fully textured way.” — Journal of Southern History

“Listening to Nineteenth Century America is artfully written, and painstakingly researched. . . . [It] contributes to the emerging field of sound studies by pointing out that sound is a fruitful way to think about production; the study of sound can connect us as surely to the material world as the printed word or image.” — Journal of Social History

“Smith does a marvelous job describing the soundscapes of antebellum America, making skilled use of diaries, personal narratives and letters, as well as novels and political tracts. . . . His evocative descriptions of the sounds of different seasons, events, and activities turn up the volume on the entire fabric of nineteenth-century life.” — Common-place

“Is it possible to hear the sounds and silences of history? These are the questions at the heart of Mark M. Smith’s innovative new work, Listening to Nineteenth-Century America, one of the first historical studies to make aural experience its analytical centerpiece. . . . [Smith] offers rich sources and insights for scholars of literature, philosophy, and cultural studies. . . . A richly suggestive book that. . . . initiates important conversations about the larger relationship between sound and ideology, offers fresh insights about bells and other particular soundmarks, and pushes forward long-running scholarly debates about the roots of sectionalism. . . . There is no question that Smith’s efforts will have a positive impact on a wide range of scholarship. After reading Listening to Nineteenth-Century America, one is forced to pay attention to questions of volume, sound, and aural control in productive new ways.” — Reviews in American History

“A fascinating attempt to explore the ways in which 'hearing' how the past sounded enriches our understanding. . . . A fine book that combines a polished account of rhetoric in the sectional crisis with a new perspective on the words that brought the United States to civil war.” — Journal of American History