Download or read book How the Post Office Created America written by Winifred Gallagher and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2016-06-28 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A masterful history of a long underappreciated institution, How the Post Office Created America examines the surprising role of the postal service in our nation’s political, social, economic, and physical development. The founders established the post office before they had even signed the Declaration of Independence, and for a very long time, it was the U.S. government’s largest and most important endeavor—indeed, it was the government for most citizens. This was no conventional mail network but the central nervous system of the new body politic, designed to bind thirteen quarrelsome colonies into the United States by delivering news about public affairs to every citizen—a radical idea that appalled Europe’s great powers. America’s uniquely democratic post powerfully shaped its lively, argumentative culture of uncensored ideas and opinions and made it the world’s information and communications superpower with astonishing speed. Winifred Gallagher presents the history of the post office as America’s own story, told from a fresh perspective over more than two centuries. The mandate to deliver the mail—then “the media”—imposed the federal footprint on vast, often contested parts of the continent and transformed a wilderness into a social landscape of post roads and villages centered on post offices. The post was the catalyst of the nation’s transportation grid, from the stagecoach lines to the airlines, and the lifeline of the great migration from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It enabled America to shift from an agrarian to an industrial economy and to develop the publishing industry, the consumer culture, and the political party system. Still one of the country’s two major civilian employers, the post was the first to hire women, African Americans, and other minorities for positions in public life. Starved by two world wars and the Great Depression, confronted with the country’s increasingly anti-institutional mind-set, and struggling with its doubled mail volume, the post stumbled badly in the turbulent 1960s. Distracted by the ensuing modernization of its traditional services, however, it failed to transition from paper mail to email, which prescient observers saw as its logical next step. Now the post office is at a crossroads. Before deciding its future, Americans should understand what this grand yet overlooked institution has accomplished since 1775 and consider what it should and could contribute in the twenty-first century. Gallagher argues that now, more than ever before, the imperiled post office deserves this effort, because just as the founders anticipated, it created forward-looking, communication-oriented, idea-driven America.
Download or read book Post Office written by Charles Bukowski and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-10-13 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Charles Bukowski’s classic roman à clef, Post Office, captures the despair, drudgery, and happy dissolution of his alter ego, Henry Chinaski, as he enters middle age. Post Office is an account of Bukowski alter-ego Henry Chinaski. It covers the period of Chinaski’s life from the mid-1950s to his resignation from the United States Postal Service in 1969, interrupted only by a brief hiatus during which he supported himself by gambling at horse races. “The Walt Whitman of Los Angeles.”—Joyce Carol Oates “He brought everybody down to earth, even the angels.”—Leonard Cohen, songwriter
Download or read book There s Always Work at the Post Office written by Philip F. Rubio and published by Univ of North Carolina Press. This book was released on 2010-05-15 with total page 473 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book brings to life the important but neglected story of African American postal workers and the critical role they played in the U.S. labor and black freedom movements. Historian Philip Rubio, a former postal worker, integrates civil rights, labor, and left movement histories that too often are written as if they happened separately. Centered on New York City and Washington, D.C., the book chronicles a struggle of national significance through its examination of the post office, a workplace with facilities and unions serving every city and town in the United States. Black postal workers--often college-educated military veterans--fought their way into postal positions and unions and became a critical force for social change. They combined black labor protest and civic traditions to construct a civil rights unionism at the post office. They were a major factor in the 1970 nationwide postal wildcat strike, which resulted in full collective bargaining rights for the major postal unions under the newly established U.S. Postal Service in 1971. In making the fight for equality primary, African American postal workers were influential in shaping today's post office and postal unions.
Download or read book Democratic Vistas written by Marlene Park and published by . This book was released on 1984 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book List of the Post offices in the United States written by United States. Post Office Department and published by . This book was released on 1859 with total page 444 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book List of Post Offices in the United States written by United States. Post Office Department and published by . This book was released on 1870 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Establishment of Postal Stations and Branch Post Offices written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Post Office and Civil Service and published by . This book was released on 1958 with total page 20 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Preserving the People s Post Office written by Christopher W. Shaw and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Christopher Shaw, the book's author said, "Through preferential postage rates for nonprofits the Postal Service facilitates civic involvement and a healthy democracy." Nader also noted, "Postal employees are fairly remunerated in an increasingly low-wage, low benefit 'Wal-Mart' economy." According to Nader, "Post offices serve as the heart of community life in neighborhoods and towns nationwide and the presence of postal workers on community streets make them safer, as the many beneficiaries of their frequently heroic efforts attest." "The lack of citizen-consumers' involvement in the recently passed postal reform legislation has highlighted the need for a public dialogue about the future of our postal system. The book provides a starting point for that conversation," stated Nader.
Download or read book List of Post Offices and Postmasters in the United States written by United States. Post Office Department and published by . This book was released on 1868 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Great American Post Offices written by James H. Bruns and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Before the advent of mass communication, the neighborhood post office and the church were the very heart of civic life throughout most of rural America. The Smithsonian's postal historian James Bruns takes us on a fascinating journey through three centuries of American history as embodied in its post offices. Bruns covers 500 historic post office sites across the U.S. 181 photos.
Download or read book Post Offices by Counties written by United States. Post Office Dept and published by . This book was released on 1956 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Texas Post Office Murals written by Philip Parisi and published by Texas A&M University Press. This book was released on 2016-10-14 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Walk into any of sixty post offices or federal buildings in the state of Texas and you may be greeted by a surprising sight: magnificent mural art on the lobby walls. In the midst of the Great Depression, a program was born that would not only give work to artists but also create beauty and optimism for a people worn down by hardship and discouragement. This New Deal program commissioned artists to create post office murals—the people’s art—to celebrate the lives, history, hopes, and dreams of ordinary Americans. In Texas alone, artists painted ninety-seven artworks for sixty-nine post offices and federal buildings around the state. Painted by some of the best-known artists of the day, these murals sparkled with scenes of Texas history, folklore, heroes, common people, wildlife, and landscapes. Murals were created from San Antonio, Houston, and Dallas to Big Spring, Baytown, and Hamilton. The artists included Tom Lea, Jerry Bywaters, Peter Hurd, Otis Dozier, Alexandre Hogue, and Xavier Gonzalez. The images showed people at work and featured industries specific to the region, often coupled with symbols of progress such as machinery and modern transportation. Murals depicted cowboys and stampedes, folk heroes from Sam Bass to Davy Crockett, revered Indian chief Quanah Parker, and community symbols such as Eastland’s lizard mascot, Ol’ Rip. In this beautiful volume Philip Parisi has gathered 115 photographs of these stunning and historic works of art—36 in full color. He tells the story of how they came to be, how the communities influenced and accepted them, and what efforts have been made to restore and preserve them. Enjoy this beautiful book in the comfort of your living room, or take it with you on the road as a guide to the people’s art in the Lone Star State.
Download or read book First Class written by Christopher W. Shaw and published by City Lights Books. This book was released on 2021-11-09 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Investigating the essential role that the postal system plays in American democracy and how the corporate sector has attempted to destroy it. "With First Class: The U.S. Postal Service, Democracy, and the Corporate Threat, Christopher Shaw makes a brilliant case for polishing the USPS up and letting it shine in the 21st century."—John Nichols, national affairs correspondent for The Nation and author of Coronavirus Criminals and Pandemic Profiteers: Accountability for Those Who Caused the Crisis "First Class is essential reading for all postal workers and for our allies who seek to defend and strengthen our public Postal Service."—Mark Dimondstein, President, American Postal Workers Union, AFL-CIO The fight over the future of the U.S. Postal Service is on. For years, corporate interests and political ideologues have pushed to remake the USPS, turning it from a public institution into a private business—and now, with mail-in voting playing a key role in local, state, and federal elections, the attacks have escalated. Leadership at the USPS has been handed over to special interests whose plan for the future includes higher postage costs, slower delivery times, and fewer post offices, policies that will inevitably weaken this invaluable public service and source of employment. Despite the general shift to digital communication, the vast majority of the American people—and small businesses—still rely heavily on the U.S. postal system, and many are rallying to defend it. First Class brings readers to the front lines of the struggle, explaining the various forces at work for and against a strong postal system, and presenting reasonable ideas for strengthening and expanding its capacity, services, and workforce. Emphasizing the essential role the USPS has played ever since Benjamin Franklin served as our first Postmaster General, author Christopher Shaw warns of the consequences for the country—and for our democracy—if we don’t win this fight. Praise for First Class: Piece by piece, an essential national infrastructure is being dismantled without our consent. Shaw makes an eloquent case for why the post office is worth saving and why, for the sake of American democracy, it must be saved."—Steve Hutkins, founder/editor of Save the Post Office and Professor of English at New York University "The USPS is essential for a democratic American society; thank goodness we have this new book from Christopher W. Shaw explaining why."—Danny Caine, author of Save the USPS and owner of the Raven Book Store, Lawrence, KS "Shaw's excellent analysis of the Postal Service and its vital role in American Democracy couldn't be more timely. … First Class should serve as a clarion call for Americans to halt the dismantling and to, instead, preserve and enhance the institution that can bind the nation together."—Ruth Y. Goldway, Retired Chair and Commissioner, U.S. Postal Regulatory Commission, responsible for the Forever Stamps "In a time of community fracture and corporate predation, Shaw argues, a first-class post office of the future can bring communities together and offer exploitation-free banking and other services."—Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen
Download or read book Hearings Reports and Prints of the House Committee on Post Office and Civil Service written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Post Office and Civil Service and published by . This book was released on 1965 with total page 1052 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Table of Post Offices in the United States written by United States. Postmaster General and published by . This book was released on 1813 with total page 94 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Parcel Post Guide written by United States. Post Office Dept and published by . This book was released on 1912 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Post Office Appropriation Bill 1923 written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Post Office and Post Roads and published by . This book was released on 1922 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
