History 233 Reading Guide
Discussion: Working-Class Culture
- Sean Wilenz, Chants Democratic: New York City and the Rise of the American Working Class, 1788-1850 (1984).
NOTE: read Parts I-III (3-216); skim Parts IV-VI (219-396).
Questions:
- How does Wilentz characterize the national and local contexts for his study? How does he use Walt Whitman's poem to help frame his study, and why?
- What process of change does Wilentz describe? How does he address that process both chronologically and topically? How were the changes and developments that he described connected and interdependent?
- What is his interpretation of change in this American metropolis, from the early national period to the mid-19th century?
- Why did he end his study in 1850 rather than in 1830? What kind of ending and beginning did he want for his account, and why?
