In May 1906, the Atlantic Monthly commented that Americans live not merely in an age of things, but under the tyranny of them, and that in our relentless effort to sell, purchase, and accumulate things, we do not possess them as much as they possess us. For Bill Brown, the tale of that possession is something stranger than the history of a culture of consumption. It is the story of Americans using things to think about themselves. Brown's captivating new study explores the roots of modern America's fascination with things and the problem that objects posed for American literature at the turn of the century. This was an era when the invention, production, distribution, and consumption of things suddenly came to define a national culture. Brown shows how crucial novels of the time made things not a solution to problems, but problems in their own right. Writers such as Mark Twain, Frank Norris, Sarah Orne Jewett, and Henry James ask why and how we use objects to make meaning, to make or remake ourselves, to organize our anxieties and affections, to sublimate our fears, and to shape our wildest dreams. Offering a remarkably new way to think about materialism, A Sense of Things will be essential reading for anyone interested in American literature and culture.

A Sense of Things: The Object Matter of American Literature

Literature & Fiction

Brown, Bill

History & Criticism

University of Chicago Press

In May 1906, the Atlantic Monthly commented that Americans live not merely in an age of things, but under the tyranny of them, and that in our relentless effort to sell, purchase, and accumulate things, we do not possess them as much as they possess us. For Bill Brown, the tale of that possession is something stranger than the history of a culture of consumption. It is the story of Americans using things to think about themselves. Brown's captivating new study explores the roots of modern America's fascination with things and the problem that objects posed for American literature at the turn of the century. This was an era when the invention, production, distribution, and consumption of things suddenly came to define a national culture. Brown shows how crucial novels of the time made things not a solution to problems, but problems in their own right. Writers such as Mark Twain, Frank Norris, Sarah Orne Jewett, and Henry James ask why and how we use objects to make meaning, to make or remake ourselves, to organize our anxieties and affections, to sublimate our fears, and to shape our wildest dreams. Offering a remarkably new way to think about materialism, A Sense of Things will be essential reading for anyone interested in American literature and culture.

Other Things

From the pencil to the puppet to the drone—the humanities and the social sciences continue to ride a wave of interest in material culture and the world of things. How should we understand the force and figure of that wave as it shapes different disciplines? Other Things explores this question by considering a wide assortment of objects—from beach glass to cell phones, sneakers to skyscrapers—that have fascinated a range of writers and artists, including Virginia Woolf, Man Ray, Spike Lee, and Don DeLillo. The book ranges across the literary, visual, and plastic arts to depict the curious lives of things. Beginning with Achilles’s Shield, then tracking the object/thing distinction as it appears in the work of Martin Heidegger and Jacques Lacan, Bill Brown ultimately focuses on the thingness disclosed by specific literary and artistic works. Combining history and literature, criticism and theory, Other Things provides a new way of understanding the inanimate object world and the place of the human within it, encouraging us to think anew about what we mean by materiality itself.

Arts & Photography

This exciting collection makes 4 previously hard-to-find dime Westerns easily available to readers who wish to enrich their understanding of nineteenth-century American literature. These varied novels provide a new and important context for examining classic, widely taught authors and tell us much about nineteenth-century attitudes towards race and gender. The anthology includes: Malaeska; The Indian Wife of the White Hunter, by Ann S. Stephens (1860) Seth Jones; or The Captives of the Frontier, by Edward S. Ellis (1860) Deadwood Dick, The Prince of the Road, by Edward J. Wheeler (1877) Frank Reade, The Inventor, Chasing the James Boys With His Steam Team, Anonymous (1890) With an introduction that critically examines the historical and cultural background of the dime Western, a chronology of relevant background information on historical figures and events, headnotes to the novels, glosses of unfamiliar terms and references, 27 illustrations, and a selected bibliography, this edition makes frequently overlooked dime Westerns readily accessible for serious study, particularly in courses that emphasize a new historicist or cultural studies approach.

Reading the West: An Anthology of Dime Westerns(Bedford Cultural Editions)

Bedford/St.Martin's

An Anthology Of Newspaper Articles About Music, Books, Records, Films, And Videos By Bill Brown And Published In "The Ann Arbor News," "The Michigan Voice" And "The Detroit Metro Times." Will Be Of Special Interest To Fans Of The Stooges, Destroy All Monsters, Early Techno, And Avant-Garde Jazz.

You Should've Heard Just What I Seen: Collected Newspaper Articles, 1981-1984

Performing Arts

lulu.com

Massive anthology of essays and illustrations published in NOT BORED! between 1983 and 2010.

NOT BORED! Anthology 1983-2010

History

Colossal Books

Kaplan AP US Government & Politics 2007: An Apex Learning Guide

Test Preparation

Kleinschmidt, Ulrich

College & High School

Kaplan

Kaplan Ap Us Government & Politics 2008

You’ve spent the year gaining advanced knowledge. Now it’s time to reap the rewards: money-saving college credit or advanced placement, and an admissions edge. Yet a top score on the AP exam requires more than knowing the material. Even if your instructor was great and you worked hard in class, you need to get comfortable with the test format itself, preparing for pitfalls and arming yourself with foolproof strategies. That’s where the Kaplan plan offers the clear advantage. With more than 70 years of proven test-prep experience, Kaplan has developed unique study guides that provide cutting-edge review while honing your test-taking skills. Kaplan’s AP exam preparation guides include everything you need to know to score higher on the test—guaranteed. Features:New cover, new layout, new reader-friendly interior designProgress tracker on every page so students can see where they stand, as they study2 Full-length practice tests with detailed answer explanationsA diagnostic test to target areas for score improvementHundreds of practice questionsProven, test-specific, score-raising strategiesKey terminology defined in contextSample answers for Free-Response questionsPreparation makes the difference, but quality preparation delivers results that can transform your life. Packed with exclusive tips you can only get from Kaplan, this is the ultimate guide for conquering jittery nerves and boosting brain power. Unlock your potential with Kaplan AP U.S. Government and Politics 2009: the unrivaled, one-stop resource.

Kaplan Ap Us Government & Politics 2009

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Brown, Bill. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Brown, Bill

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Brown, Bill. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

A Sense of Things: The Object Matter of American Literature

A Sense of Things: The Object Matter of American Literature

Other Things

Other Things

Reading the West: An Anthology of Dime Westerns(Bedford Cultural Editions)

You Should've Heard Just What I Seen: Collected Newspaper Articles, 1981-1984

NOT BORED! Anthology 1983-2010

Kaplan AP US Government & Politics 2007: An Apex Learning Guide

Kaplan Ap Us Government & Politics 2008

Kaplan Ap Us Government & Politics 2009