No examination of contemporary urban communities would be complete without the discussion of class identity. But how did class identity inform the urban communities of yesteryear? Taking Newport, Rhode Island in the eighteenth century and Lowell, Massachusetts in the nineteenth century, at the peak of their economic powers when they represented some of the purist forms of capitalist production in North America, as case studies, this 2006 book explores the material and biological manifestations of class identity. Stephen Mrozowski uses a combination of documentary research, material cultural studies, and environmental archaeology to probe the lives of artisans, merchants, and mill workers in these urban communities. Taking an interdisciplinary approach to fully examine burgeoning notions of class, he offers significant insights into the factors shaping those notions. This engaging study, supported throughout by tables, illustrations and graphs, is required reading for all students of urban history and historical archaeology.
• Presents a vivid reconstruction of the lives of workers in some of the earliest centres of capitalism in North America • Provides an in-depth analysis of material realities drawing on archaeological, environmental and documentary evidence • Fully supports the study with illustrations, maps and tables
Contents
Preface; 1. Introduction; 2. Individuals in context: the world of eighteenth century Newport; 3. Shifting the focus: archaeology of the urban household; 4. A new world created: nineteenth century Lowell; 5. Interrogating the experiment: Lowell's urban space and culture; 6. Conclusion: contested spaces and the threads of everyday life; 7. Epilogue: towards a dialectical archaeology of class; Appendix A. Isolating and dating archaeological assemblages in the urban context.
Review
Review of the hardback: 'The processes of class formation and distinction are ongoing in American cities. For those interested in those processes, The Archaeology of Class in Urban America is a 'must read'.' Cambridge Archaeological Journal
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