A Centre of Wonders

The American past of transcendentalism, utilitarianism, utopianism, and spiritual freedom here has its necessary counter or complement in this corporal history of early America providing "the historical importance of sentience and materiality in early American societies..." While the materialism of early Americans may be less than revelatory in an age of slavery, tribal genocide, and the more or less extreme proscription of women''s activity, the approach is nonetheless useful to detail the interactions between, and conceptions about, bodies classified as white, black, red, male and female.

Contributors, primarily professors of history, American studies, English, and religious studies, utilize the founding body (of) theories of Foucault, Mary Douglas, Elaine Scarry, Judith Butler, and Helene Cixous to examine American materialism from 1600-1830, primarily east of the Mississippi. c. Book News Inc.