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by: Charlene Mires  Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Binding: HardcoverDewey Decimal Number: 974.811 EAN: 9780812236651 ISBN: 0812236653 Label: University of Pennsylvania Press Manufacturer: University of Pennsylvania Press Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 368 Publication Date: June 21, 2002 Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press Studio: University of Pennsylvania Press Related Items:
Editorial Review: Product Description: Independence Hall is a place Americans think they know well. Within its walls the Continental Congress declared independence in 1776, and in 1787 the Founding Fathers drafted the U.S. Constitution there. Painstakingly restored to evoke these momentous events, the building appears to have passed through time unscathed, from the heady days of the American Revolution to today. But Independence Hall is more than a symbol of the young nation. Beyond this, according to Charlene Mires, it has a long and varied history of changing uses in an urban environment, almost all of which have been forgotten. In Independence Hall, Mires rediscovers and chronicles the lost history of Independence Hall, in the process exploring the shifting perceptions of this most important building in America's popular imagination. According to Mires, the significance of Independence Hall cannot be fully appreciated without assessing the full range of political, cultural, and social history that has swirled about it for nearly three centuries. During its existence, it has functioned as a civic and cultural center, a political arena and courtroom, and a magnet for public celebrations and demonstrations. Artists such as Thomas Sully frequented Independence Square when Philadelphia served as the nation's capital during the 1790s, and portraitist Charles Willson Peale merged the arts, sciences, and public interest when he transformed a portion of the hall into a center for natural science in 1802. In the 1850s, hearings for accused fugitive slaves who faced the loss of freedom were held, ironically, in this famous birthplace of American independence. Over the years Philadelphians have used the old state house and its public square in a multitude of ways that have transformed it into an arena of conflict: labor grievances have echoed regularly in Independence Square since the 1830s, while civil rights protesters exercised their right to free speech in the turbulent 1960s. As much as the Founding Fathers, these people and events illuminate the building's significance as a cultural symbol. Average Rating:
 Rating: - The Place of Independence Hall in American HistoryIndependence Hall in American Memory is a stellar book. Charlene Mires presents an important, engaging and highly readable account of Independence Hall. She also tells much that is significant and intriguing about the story of Philadelphia and the development of the American nation. The book is fascinating and wonderfully written. The reader will learn about the shifting uses and appearance of this most important building and the variety of ways that people have thought of Independence Hall and ... Read More Rating: - Not your usual historical discourseA fascinating history of Independence Hall in Philadelphia in a different style than the normal textbook discourse. Mires approach of using the building and property as the focus of the social and political history that happened in and around Independence Hall is very original in that one begins to think about the building in the first person. The book uniquely expresses the history of everyday life and its continuum as people and events come and go through the Old State House. While the building ... Read More 
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