{"product_id":"9780826517890","title":"Everyday Reading: Print Culture and Collective Identity in the Rio de la Plata, 1780-1910","description":"\u003cbr\u003eStarting in the late nineteenth century, the region of South America known as the Rio de la Plata (containing modern-day Uruguay and Argentina) boasted the highest literacy rates in Latin America. In \u003ci\u003eEveryday Reading,\u003c\/i\u003e William Acree explores the history, events, and culture that gave rise to the region's remarkable progress. With a specific focus on its print culture, in the form of newspapers, political advertisements and documents, schoolbooks, and even stamps and currency, Acree creates a portrait of a literary culture that permeated every aspect of life.\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eEveryday Reading\u003c\/i\u003e argues that the introduction of the printing press into the Rio de la Plata in the 1780s hastened the collapse of Spanish imperial control and played a major role in the transition to independence some thirty years later. After independence, print culture nurtured a new identity and helped sustain the region through the tumult of civil war in the mid-1800s. Acree concludes by examining the role of reading in formal education, which had grown exponentially by the early twentieth century as schoolchildren were taught to fulfill traditional roles in society.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eUltimately, \u003ci\u003eEveryday Reading\u003c\/i\u003e humanizes literary culture, demonstrating its unrecognized and unexpected influence in everyday lives.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Vanderbilt University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47012063641840,"sku":"9780826517890","price":55.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780826517890","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}