Kaestle&Radway article report

“A Framework for the History of Publishing and Reading in the United States, 1880-1940”  
Carl F. Kaestle and Janice A. Radway

Chapter one of Kaestle and Radway’s 2009 book: A History of the Book in America: Volume 4: Print in Motion: The Expansion of Publishing and Reading in the United States, 1880-1940 was an assigned reading for this week. To begin, it is important to look into who wrote the book to give it purpose and to confirm that the article is credible. Carl F. Kaestle is a professor of education, history, and public policy. He also was previously employed here at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he researched educational policy studies and history. The second author/editor, Janice A. Radway, is a writer and a professor, as well as an expert in cultural studies. Both of these knowledgeable authors are continuing to work on projects in their field today.

The topic of the article is the title, which we find out refers to print. 1880-1940 was an extremely eventful time of major change, and the article takes us through a timeline of the evolution of print culture along side American culture. The main point/thesis the authors are trying to get across is the complexity of print culture.

The article talks about how print was the stepping-stone for more innovation and change during this time period. Increased productivity and faster transportation set the stage for the evolution of print because of increased accessibility. This created nationalization, professionalization, control, identity, freedom, order, diversity, education, entertainment, specialization and so much more.

As the title states, there is a section solely for the history of print. It progresses from the telegraph, to the typewriter, to the magazine revolution and books all the way to motion pictures with important milestones along the way. Advertising is an example of one those milestones along with daily circulation. Unlike other sections of this article and the other assigned readings, these are historical facts with dates and names rather than opinionated material.

This work is home to a plethora of themes that illustrate the complexity of print culture. One of the themes of this article is print culture as a metaphor for American culture. Other themes are the ubiquity of print and revolution. Print never disappeared or was replaced, but rather it was improved, which can be proven by the historical aspect of this article as a constantly changing society.

After reading critiques, I have come to the conclusion that this is a noteworthy article that was well received and well written and constructed. I also suggest that this article was aimed at an audience of intellectuals like the two authors, and people interested in media based off of who wrote the reviews on this book. As for myself, I agree with the points made in the article and I thought that the themes within the article were interesting. Print was almost personified, which was effective in showing the significance print had on the future of its culture, which is never ending.