The United States Postal Service is a wondrous American creation. Seven days a week; its army of 300;000 letter carriers delivers 513 million pieces of mail; forty percent of the world’s volume. It is far more efficient than any other mail service—more than twice as efficient as the Japanese and easily outpacing the Germans and British. And the USPS has a storied history. Founded by Benjamin Franklin; it was the information network that bound far-flung Americans together; fostered a common culture; and helped American business to prosper. A first class stamp remains one of the greatest bargains of all time; and yet; the USPS is slowly vanishing. Critics say it is slow and archaic. Mail volume is down. The workforce is shrinking. Post offices are closing.In Neither Snow Nor Rain; journalist Devin Leonard tackles the fascinating; centuries-long history of the USPS; from the first letter carriers through Franklin’s days; when postmasters worked out of their homes and post roads cut new paths through the wilderness. Under Andrew Jackson; the post office was molded into a vast patronage machine; and by the 1870s; over seventy percent of federal employees were postal workers. As the country boomed; USPS aggressively developed new technology; from mobile post offices on railroads and air mail service to mechanical sorting machines and optical character readers.Neither Snow Nor Rain is a rich; multifaceted history; full of remarkable characters; from the stamp-collecting FDR; to the revolutionaries who challenged USPS’s monopoly on mail; to the renegade union members who brought the system—and the country—to a halt in the 1970s. An exciting and engrossing read; Neither Snow Nor Rain is the first major history of the USPS in over fifty years.
#1564454 in Books Margaret A Weitekamp 2005-10-26 2005-10-26Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.00 x .54 x 6.00l; .77 #File Name: 0801883946256 pagesRight Stuff Wrong Sex America s First Women in Space Program Gender Relations in the American Experience
Review
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful. Great Book About a Forgotten ProgramBy Charles J. RectorThe First Women in Space Program of the 1960's is an endeavor that has become all but forgotten in American history. That is until Margaret A. Weitekamp's recent book about the subject came along.During the 1950's; there was massive resistance in U.S. government circles against any kind of a space program. There were; however; visionaries such as William Randolph "Randy" Lovelace II who promoted the benefits of a strong space program. It was not until after both the launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik in 1957 coupled with the election of John F. Kennedy in 1960 that a strong American space program came into existence.Since the Kennedy Administration refused to countenance the idea of a women in space program; it was up to the likes of Lovelace famed aviatrix Jacqueline Cochran to start a private program towards that goal. Another prominent woman in the U.S. aviation industry to support Lovelace's program was Jerrie Cobb who had passed all of the tests that had been administered to the NASA astronauts; but who had been passed over simply because she was a woman.In the end; Lovelace's program came to naught due to a lack of funding; but the memory of it lives on in this splendid work.18 of 18 people found the following review helpful. Interesting; but lacking in some context.By Science DesignerI am an admirer of Weitekamp's excellent work at the Smithsonian Air Space Museum as Curator of the Social and Cultural History of Spaceflight. Which is why I found this book a little puzzling; as it failed to give an adequate degree of social and cultural context to the area she is discussing. The book collects together all of the facts; and isn't inaccurate. However I found a much superior assessment of the "Mercury 13" program in Burgess and French's book Into That Silent Sea: Trailblazers of the Space Era; 1961-1965 (Outward Odyssey: A People's History of S). In one extraordinary chapter; they capture the true cultural; historical and social context of this program far better than this entire book-length treatment. They also contrast the Soviet women in space program very well.Nevertheless; I would still recommend this book as a very interesting read into a fascinating time in American history; and congratulate the author on her great research.10 of 10 people found the following review helpful. An excellent piece of historyBy Konstanz BiboMargaret Weitekamp's book addresses a long-forgotten but recently rediscovered chapter in American history. At the height of the Space Race's Cold War fervor; a mix of private and public figures made several initial moves in the direction of introducing women to America's space program. None of these women ever really got close to becoming an astronaut due to an array of institutional and cultural constraints to their progress. They have been both lionized and marginalized by different camps over the last 40 years; with distortions and half-truths from every side. Weitekamp's book finally cuts through the clamor. It gathers an enormous array of rare and forgotten documents and details; along with oral history from the women themselves; to weave an authoritative narrative of the events. It should earn its place as a definitive work in this area.Weitekamp's writing is precise and well-documented; with all the attention to sources and structure that academics need to be kept happy. Her focus is on gender (as befits the subject); but her work gradually yields a subtle examination of the perspectives; motives and positions of the women who confront its cultural manifestations. Like all good history; this reads like a movie waiting to happen. Jackie Cochran is the most intriguing character of the lot; with her political savvy and daredevil streak taking her from setting records on the tarmac to meetings in the Oval Office. Jerrie Cobb; the more public face of the original group of women at the climax of these events; suffered from a political naivety; but came to see the structural impediments to women perhaps more clearly than anyone. Easily the best piece of social and cultural history I've read this year.
