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Measuring America : How an Untamed Wilderness Shaped the United States SIGNED
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Located in: Miamisburg, Ohio, United States
Delivery:
Estimated between Sat, 25 May and Wed, 29 May to 43230
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Seller assumes all responsibility for this listing.
eBay item number:145289195253
Item specifics
- Condition
- Country/Region of Manufacture
- United States
- Unit Type
- Unit
- Type
- Novel
- Signed
- Yes
- Book Series
- Historical
- Narrative Type
- Nonfiction
- Features
- Dust Jacket
- Original Language
- English
- Intended Audience
- Adults, Young Adults
- Edition
- Na
- ISBN
- 9780802713964
- Book Title
- Measuring America : How an Untamed Wilderness Shaped the United States and Fulfilled the Promise of Democracy
- Item Length
- 8.5in
- Publisher
- Walker & Company
- Publication Year
- 2002
- Format
- Hardcover
- Language
- English
- Item Height
- 1.1in
- Genre
- Technology & Engineering, Law, History, Social Science
- Topic
- Demography, United States / State & Local / MidWest (IA, Il, in, Ks, Mi, MN, Mo, Nd, Ne, Oh, Sd, Wi), Land Use, Surveying, United States / General
- Item Width
- 6.3in
- Item Weight
- 19.6 Oz
- Number of Pages
- 288 Pages
About this product
Product Information
Measuring America is the fascinating, provocative, and eye-opening story of why America has ended up with its unique system of weights and measures--the American Customary System, unlike any other in the world--and how this has profoundly shaped our country and culture. In the process, Measuring America reveals the colossal power contained inside the acres and miles, ounces and pounds, that we use every day without ever realizing their significance. The most urgent problem facing the newly independent United States was how to pay for the war that won the country its freedom; America's debt was enormous. Its greatest asset was the land west of the Ohio River, but for this huge territory to be sold, it had first to be surveyed--that is, measured out and mapped. And before that could be done, a uniform set of measurements had to be chosen for the new republic. English, Scottish, German, Dutch, Scandinavian, and other settlers had all brought their own systems with them (more than 100,000 different units are reckoned to have been in daily use), and in his first address to Congress, George Washington put the establishment of a single system of weights and measures immediately after a national defense and a currency as the United States' most urgent priority. The debate on this vital measure took place at a critical moment in the history of ideas, when the traditional, subjective view of the world was being increasingly challenged by objective, scientific reasoning. Thomas Jefferson--supported by Washington, Adams, Madison, Monroe, even Hamilton--championed the new idea of a scientific 10-based system derived from some universal constant such as time or the size of the earth. Such an alliance should have ensured a decimal America, but ranged against them was the invisible genius of Edmund Gunter, the seventeenth-century English mathematician whose twenty-two-yard surveying chain, introduced in 1607, had revolutionized land ownership in Britain and was still used by every surveyor in America--including Thomas Hutchins and his successors in charge of the land survey on the Ohio frontier. How we ultimately gained the American Customary System--the last traditional system in the world--and how Gunter's chain indelibly imprinted its dimensions on the land, on cities, and on our culture from coast to coast is both an exciting human and intellectual drama and one of the great untold stories in American history. At a time when the metric system may finally be unstoppable, Andro Linklater has captured the essential nature of measurement just as the Founding Fathers understood it. Sagely argued and beautifully written, Measuring America offers readers nothing less than the opportunity to see America's history--and our democracy--in a brilliant new light.
Product Identifiers
Publisher
Walker & Company
ISBN-10
0802713963
ISBN-13
9780802713964
eBay Product ID (ePID)
2273212
Product Key Features
Book Title
Measuring America : How an Untamed Wilderness Shaped the United States and Fulfilled the Promise of Democracy
Format
Hardcover
Language
English
Topic
Demography, United States / State & Local / MidWest (IA, Il, in, Ks, Mi, MN, Mo, Nd, Ne, Oh, Sd, Wi), Land Use, Surveying, United States / General
Publication Year
2002
Genre
Technology & Engineering, Law, History, Social Science
Number of Pages
288 Pages
Dimensions
Item Length
8.5in
Item Height
1.1in
Item Width
6.3in
Item Weight
19.6 Oz
Additional Product Features
Lc Classification Number
E161.3.L46 2002
Copyright Date
2002
Target Audience
Trade
Lccn
2002-073573
Dewey Decimal
973
Dewey Edition
21
Illustrated
Yes
Item description from the seller
Seller assumes all responsibility for this listing.
eBay item number:145289195253
Postage and handling
Item location:
Miamisburg, Ohio, United States
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| Postage and handling | To | Service | Delivery*See Delivery notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| US $5.99 (approx S$ 8.07) | United States | Economy Postage (USPS Media MailTM) | Estimated between Sat, 25 May and Wed, 29 May to 43230 |
| Handling time |
|---|
| Will usually post within 2 business days of receiving cleared payment. |
| Taxes |
|---|
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Sales Tax for an item #145289195253
Sales Tax for an item #145289195253
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Return policy
| Return policy details |
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| The seller will not accept returns for this item. |
Seller feedback (394)
s***r (41)- Feedback left by buyer.
Past month
Verified purchase
Received book and it is as described and signed
x***d (640)- Feedback left by buyer.
Past month
Verified purchase
Excellent seller! Item packaged very well! Thank you!
h***y (718)- Feedback left by buyer.
Past month
Verified purchase
It came dirty and smelly I hope after washing it that it smells better