The Way of Improvement Leads Home Philip Vickers Fithian and the Rural Enlightenment in Early America /
The Way of Improvement Leads Home traces the short but fascinating life of Philip Vickers Fithian. Born to Presbyterian grain-growers in rural New Jersey, he was never quite satisfied with the agricultural life he seemed destined to inherit. Fithian longed for something more- to improve himself in a...
Clasificación: | Libro Electrónico |
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Autor principal: | |
Formato: | eBook |
Idioma: | Inglés |
Publicado: |
Philadelphia [Pa.] :
University of Pennsylvania Press,
2008.
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Colección: | Early American studies.
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Temas: | |
Acceso en línea: | Texto completo |
Sumario: | The Way of Improvement Leads Home traces the short but fascinating life of Philip Vickers Fithian. Born to Presbyterian grain-growers in rural New Jersey, he was never quite satisfied with the agricultural life he seemed destined to inherit. Fithian longed for something more- to improve himself in a revolutionary world that was making upward mobility possible. Fithian is best known for the diary that he wrote in 1773-74 while working as a tutor at Nomini Hall, the Virginia plantation of Robert Carter, and his role as a Revolutionary War chaplain. From the villages of New Jersey, Fithian was able to participate indirectly in the eighteenth-century republic of letters- a transatlantic intellectual community. Participation required a commitment to self-improvement that demanded a belief in the Enlightenment values of human potential and social progress. He constantly struggled to reconcile this quest for a cosmopolitan life with his love of home. It was the people, the religious culture, and the very landscape of his "native sod" that continued to hold Fithian's affections. |
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Notas: | Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph. |
Descripción Física: | 1 online resource (278 p.). |
Bibliografía: | Includes bibliographical references (p. [219]-255) and index. |
ISBN: | 0812206398 9780812206395 |