In his book called “Postal Age,” David M. Henkin follows the development of the postal system in the United States of America from the beginning of the 1800s, through its revolutionary period in 1840-1850s.
The author views the changes in the role of postal network on the territory of the country and on the international level, the habits that the American society has developed under the influence of the progress in the mail system and the metamorphoses that happened to people of the United States based on the growing fondness of letter writing and communication.
The United States has always been one of the most multinational countries, filled with very different people. The citizens of this country have been moving around a lot, many historical events happened to the American families, and sometimes under the influence of these events, people ended up torn apart, thrown to the different States, away from their close ones.
The problems of staying close, connected, the issues of communication with relatives and friends, beloved ones, business partners has always been of high importance. The author shows in his book how the American society dealt with these issues on different stages of history, how the connections were maintained through the immigration waves and Civil War.
The book follows the interesting adjustments the American society had made to work out ways to communicate when it was almost impossible and how the revolution in the postal system started various social processes. “Postal Age” by David M. Henkin shows the role the revolution in the American mail system played in the cultural, political and economical development of the whole country and its society.
The author explores several interesting ideas in his book. First of all, David M. Henkin studies the social situation in the country before and after the revolution in the postal system. In the book, it is noticed that the population’s attitude towards communication and connection has changed a lot. Initially, people would only share occasional newspapers or rarely write messages to one another on holidays or special events.
The development of the mail network led to the beginning of multiple processes, the level of sharing, intimacy, and personal presence in the letters and parcels sent through the mail changed rapidly. The mass obsession with communication and sharing has, probably, laid the basis for the society as we know it now.
American people of all ages, backgrounds, professions, and ethnicities have become regular mail writers until today communication remains a very important part of people’s lives and the foundation of multiple processes happening in the world such as trading, political interactions, diplomacy, and personal relationships.
The author’s idea to follow the history of the development of the postal system is a great way to show the development of ways of personal communication. People found out that connection was something they could never get enough of. This is why the further fascination with the development of ways of staying connected continued.
A primitive newspaper delivery system has eventually turned into a wide-reaching universal tendency of connectedness. The mail network was a convenient and popular means to maintain connections of all kinds, but at the same time, this system was used by criminals as well as the rest of the people.
The minds of the human work this way – as soon as someone invents something special, an advanced technique to achieve certain goals, there will immediately appear someone who will come up with an idea how to use this invention for cheating or crimes.
Since mail was used by many business owners to send money, the post offices became quite dangerous places because of the constant attention of thieves and robbers. Besides, since mail was available to everyone – criminal groups and organizations also started to use it to maintain their illegal business.
One more fascinating idea the author develops in this book is the suggestion to see and experience the world communicating without the internet. The events described in the book by David M. Henkin and the reality we currently live in are like “before” and “after” of the digital connection.
The author emphasizes the necessity of the reforms in the field of the postal system, showing how valuable this way of connection was during the Civil War, the period of epidemic diseases, the gold rush, and immigration. Mail had numerous functions back then.
It helped to keep families together; it was the base of many businesses and trading, the foundation of personal relationships, one of the main sources of news and it saved lives of many people due to the possibility to send medications and vaccines.
The book shows that eventually, mail became an essential part of people’s lives and a necessary source of information for the whole world, the tendency that started in the 1800s has been going on for generations and it remains popular.
David M. Henkin’s book is very believable since it is based on real events. The author takes a lot of effort to base all of his statements on the historical facts, this makes the book especially fascinating for the reader because it makes the reader feel like they are time traveling. The opportunity to see the society of the 1800s and to observe the lives of simple people of the United States of America back then is priceless.
The author’s study of the society of the past is interesting for the modern audience, who cannot even imagine the world without digital connection, internet, long distance calls, and text messages. Through this book, the author shows that the communication has not always been quick and easy as it is now.
Back then it was taking weeks or even months to hear back from the close people and learn the news, which after the time while the letter was traveling have already stopped being latest. The author handles the history in an objective way, takes into consideration many facts and presents them in a detailed manner.
Though, the author has a bias. David M. Henkin’s description is dry and filled with facts, yet as a reader, I would like to know more about the logistics applied to deal with an increasing amount of mail, the ways of delivery, and some more details about the mail system during the Civil war. The reforms of the postal system and its changes described by David M. Henkin are a very important aspect of the history that often gets overlooked or skipped.
It is impossible to imagine how our history would go if mail were never invented or never became so advanced. During such periods of our history as wars and epidemic diseases, the lives of millions of people depended on the mail. The connection is a crucial thing for the whole world, and its speed and quality play a big role in the success of communication. This is why the revolution of the postal system should not be underestimated.
To my mind, the book by David M. Henkin is especially meaningful for the young people of the modern generation, the people that were born after the cell phones became popular, the people that have never received a handwritten letter and never wrote one either. For the whole society, it is important to know the functions of old-fashioned mail, the way it had to go through the time, the difficulties it had to face during the process of its development.
I think that David M. Henkin’s idea to write the book about the history of the postal system is unusual and fresh in the world so limited by the most important topics that it forgets to appreciate more subtle things. Communication in our digital age is so accessible that it is often taken for granted. Only when we lose it, we start appreciating its importance in our lives.
Modern people start to panic when they realize they have left their cell phone at home, and due to this, they cannot immediately contact someone.
David M. Henkin offers a glance at the world where nothing was immediate, yet the people still managed to maintain romance and relationships, business and commerce, family ties, and friendships. This is the world that is now long forgotten, that is why reading about it and learning about it is so valuable and important.