Hotel : An American History

by A. K. Sandoval-Strausz

• ISBN13: 9780300106169
• ISBN10: 0300106165
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 2007-11-15
• Publisher: Yale University Press

Summary

When George Washington embarked on his presidential tours of 178991, the rudimentary inns and taverns of the day suddenly seemed dismally inadequate. But within a decade, Americans had built the first hotelslarge and elegant structures that boasted private bedchambers and grand public ballrooms. This book recounts the enthralling history of the hotel in Americaa saga in which politicians and prostitutes, tourists and tramps, conventioneers and confidence men, celebrities and salesmen all rub elbows.Hotelexplores why the hotel was invented, how its architecture developed, and the many ways it influenced the course of United States history. The volume also presents a beautiful collection of more than 120 illustrations, many in full color, of hotel life in every era. Hotelexplores these topics and more: What it was like to sleep, eat, and socialize at a hotel in the mid-1800s How hotelkeepers dealt with the illicit activities of adulterers, thieves, and violent guests The stories behind America's greatest hotels, including the Waldorf-Astoria, the Plaza, the Willard, the Blackstone, and the Fairmont Why Confederate spies plotted to burn down thirteen hotels in New York City during the Civil War How the development of steamboats and locomotives helped create a nationwide network of hotels How hotels became architectural models for apartment buildings The pivotal role of hotels in the civil rights movement

Author Biography

A. K. Sandoval-Strausz is assistant professor of history at the University of New Mexico.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 1
Buildings and Systems	p. 11
A Public House for a New Republic: Inventing the American Hotel, 1789-1815	p. 13
Palaces of the Public: The American Hotel Comes of Age, 1815-1840	p. 45
The Hotel System: Assembling a Transcontinental Accommodation Network, 1840-1876	p. 75
Imperial Hotels and Hotel Empires: Tourism, Expansion, Standardization, and the Beginning of the End of a Hotel Age, 1876-1908	p. 110
Hospitality	p. 137
The House of Strangers: The Transformation of Hospitality and the Everyday Life of the Hotel	p. 142
The Law of Hospitality: The Common Law of Innkeepers and the Public Space of the Hotel	p. 186
Unruly Guests and Anxious Hosts: Sex, Theft, and Violence at the Hotel	p. 203
A Nation of Hosts and Guests	p. 229
American Forum: Hotels and Civil Society	p. 231
Homes for a World of Strangers: House, Hotel, Apartment Building	p. 263
Accommodating Jim Crow: The Law of Hospitality and the Struggle for Civil Rights	p. 284
Conclusion	p. 312
Notes	p. 317
Acknowledgments	p. 357
Illustration Credits	p. 360
Index	p. 363
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.