Self Improvement and Self Help Guide
19th Century in Print, Book Special Presentation Self-Help & Self-Improvement (Visit this link)
the very concept of self-improvement originated in America!
During the Industrial revolution many nineteenth-century Americans believed strongly in the individual’s capacity to improve and educate him- or herself, as well as in the importance of formal education. American society was also thought to be more fluid in its class structure than many European societies, a conviction which fostered the widespread faith that perseverance and hard work could enable the individual to rise in rank and in prosperity.
At the same time, the growth of literacy and the waning of traditional structures of apprenticeship and household training made it both practical and necessary to offer in print form the kinds of practical instructions that an earlier era might have transmitted orally. The Nineteenth Century in Print accordingly offers a number of works of self-help and self-improvement, from advice on domestic economy and agricultural practice to hints on how to acquire the attributes of personal gentility that might speed one’s entry into a higher social class. There is a lot of material in the historical online library!
