Hearing History: A Reader - Tapa dura

The history of sound is an emerging field of great importance to cultural and social analysis. Hearing History offers a broad introduction to the subject that will be of enduring value. - Michael O'Malley, George Mason University; ""This bold and edgy collection will serve as an excellent entree into the exciting new field of aural history. Mark Smith's introduction is at once lucid and comprehensive. Hearing History is absolutely first rate."" - Peter A. Coclanis, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Hearing History is a long-needed introduction to the basic tenets of what is variously termed historical acoustemology, auditory culture, or aural history. Gathering twenty-one of the field's most important writings, this volume will deepen and broaden our understanding of changing perceptions of sound and hearing and the ongoing education of our senses. The essays stimulate thinking on key questions: What is aural history? Why has vision tended to triumph over hearing in historical accounts? How might we begin to reclaim the sounds of the past? With theoretical and practical essays on the history of sound and hearing in Europe and the United States, the book draws on historical approaches ranging from empiricism to postmodernism. Some essays show the historian of technology at work, others highlight how military, social, intellectual, and cultural historians have tackled historical acoustemologies. Investigating soundscapes that include a Puritan meetinghouse in colonial New England, the belfries of a French village at the close of the Old Regime, the court hall of Elizabeth I, and a Civil War battlefield, the essays vary just as widely in their topics.