History on clocks

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments

Introduction Unveiling the Jewelers’ Clock

One Time’s Tongue and Hands: The First Public Clocks in the United States
Two Clockwatching: The Uneasy Authority of Clocks and Watches in Antebellum America
Three Republican Heirlooms, Instruments of Modern Time Discipline: Pocket Watches during and after the Civil War American Synchronicity: Turn-of-the-Century Tower Clocks, Street Clocks, and Time Balls
Six Monuments and Monstrosities: The Apex of the Public Clock Era

Epilogue Content to Look at My Watch: The End of the Public Clock Era

Notes
Index

Choice

"How were timepieces in public places employed as symbols of authority by both public and private entities in nineteenth-century America? How did pocket watches and other private timekeeping devices move from a symbol of prestige for the wealthy to a ubiquitous personal possession? How did the interface between public clocks and personal timepieces change the structure and schedule of life throughout the country? These questions and others are masterfully addressed in this painstakingly researched account of the culture of timekeeping in America. By tracing the different types of public clocks-from tower clocks to time balls-as well as the emergence of inexpensive pocket watches, McCrossen tells a story of a period when the quest for accurate timekeeping became an obsession in the US."

Journal of Social History

“A precise, acute, and well-measured monograph. It lucidly tracks change over time, spanning about four full generations, and gets better and better as it runs along. . . . What a timely book!”

Michael O'Malley, author of Face Value: The Entwined Histories of Money and Race in America

“Marking Modern Times is a terrific book. Creative, well researched, well written and original, Alexis McCrossen’s account of public time and public clocks really captures nineteenth century notions of time and timekeeping. Her documentation of this era is really superb.”

Ann Fabian, author of The Skull Collectors: Race, Science, and America’s Unburied Dead

“Marking Modern Times beautifully captures a complicated history behind the remarkable timepieces that once adorned our streets and public buildings. Like a good cultural historian, Alexis McCrossen picks up a story we have missed—'a public clock era' punctuated by war and peace, poverty and prosperity, by the wishes of local jewelers, railroad magnates, reforming politicians and the federal government. And the illustrations are a delight!”

David Henkin, author of The Postal Age: The Emergence of Modern Communications in Nineteenth-Century America

“Alexis McCrossen’s Marking Modern Times is a rich and fascinating book full of wonderful detail about the visibility of time and the material history of timekeeping in America. This is a deeply researched study that speaks to readers across a variety of fields, from urban history and cultural history to the histories of technology and time.”

Journal of American History

“Important and engaging. . .The book’s great success [is] in adding depth and detail to a story that we thought we knew and, in so doing, making it fresh and striking all over again.”