Circles and Lines: The Shape of Life in Early America

The William E. Massey Sr. Lectures in American Studies

by John Putnam Demos

In this intimate, engaging book, John Demos offers an illuminating portrait of how colonial Americans, from the first settlers to the postrevolutionary generation, viewed their life experiences. He also offers an invaluable inside look into the craft of a master social historian as he unearths--in sometimes unexpected places--fragments of evidence that help us probe the interior lives of people from the faraway past.

The earliest settlers lived in a traditional world of natural cycles that shaped their day and night; seasonal rhythms; the lunar cycle; the life cycle itself. Indeed, so basic were these elements that "almost no one felt a need to comment on them." Yet he finds cyclical patterns--in the seasonal foods they ate, in the spike in marriages following the autumn harvest. Witchcraft cases reveal the different emotional reactions to day versus night, as accidental mishaps in the light become fearful nighttime mysteries. During the transitional world of the American Revolution, people began to see their society in newer terms but seemed unable or unwilling to come to terms with that novelty. Americans became new, Demos points out, before they fully understood what it meant. Their cyclical frame of reference was coming unmoored, giving way to a linear world view in early nineteenth-century America that is neatly captured by Kentucky doctor Daniel Drake's description of the chronography of his life.

In his meditation on these three worlds, Demos brilliantly demonstrates how large historical forces are reflected in individual lives. With the imaginative insights and personable touch that we have come to expect from this fine chronicler of the human condition, Circles and Lines is vintage John Demos.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

112 pages, Hardcover

First published May 28, 2004

Reviews

[Jeanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating. His question of the American (and French) Revolutions changing the human psyche, redefining traditional worldviews to progressive worldviews, how we currently embrace our individual liberties at the cost of war and clashes of community interest. The book is a short, concise treatise, examining the psyche of a nation. Reading this book as an expressive arts practitioner and facilitator, it opens up possible workshops. Further exploration on his most important question on page 51, “did the (American) Revolution change human psychology?” Is the most fascinating juncture.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an interesting book. Author Demos, an expert on colonial and early American society, brings insights gained from a long career to illustrate how everyday life was impacted by the absence of things we now take for granted and depend upon. Anyone who lived through last October's New England snowstorm can relate, because, although it was only for a week, life was rather primitive for those of us without electric power. Demos describes how dark it was outdoors in the absence of artificial light sources; as a result, life constricted at night, as people retreated to their own firesides for comfort and safety. It's hard to imagine today going to bed at 6 PM on winter evenings and not rising until the sun appeared 10 hours later. Your house was your world for those hours. With respect to lifestyle, there was no conception of adolescence or middle age. People were young, kids treated like small adults, and after 40 or 50 years, if you were fortunate, you'd be old. These are just a few examples of how our views and expectations have changed, radically, over the centuries. Circles and Lines is a scholarly work but eminently readable and appealing. Recommended for anyone with an interest in American history and the evolution of everyday life.

[Marfy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A study of how we moved from circular thinking, the way people have thought about their lives for thousands of years, to linear thinking, the way we think now. It hinges on the American Revolution; that is when the change began to develop. And the definition of Revolution is key to the whole thing. Originally it meant "things that turned, that rotated--circular and cyclical things." During the American Revolution, it came to be used to mean restoration, "of reengaging principles and structures supposedly forgotten (or abandoned or subverted)." That was at the beginning of the Revolution. But gradually people began to realize that breaking away from England to stand on their own was a new thing, a novel idea. And their Revolution came to stand for novelty. In a circular world, there is no novelty; everything gets repeated as it always had been. In the new linear world, novelty was no longer feared, but craved. Everyone felt new, especially Americans. This is a really intriguing book.

[Brant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved his short bit about the changing definition of the term "revolution," especially as it happens when, according to Demos, American's were transitioning from a circular worldview to a linear worldview. Since the Middle Ages, the word revolution was used to describe the turning of a cyclical object like how we refer to earth's movement today. When the term was used in later years in the political realm, it referred to the act of restoring that which was lost. Again, a cyclical rebirth. It wasn't until the American Revolution and then the French Revolution for the definition of Revolution to change again to the idea of breaking away and cutting ties--a linear understanding.

My prose isn't as polished as Demos' is but the idea is there. A short and fascinating read.

[Kayla ✨readsbykayla✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I may have had to read this for class, but it was honestly one of the most interesting, imaginative and thought provoking books that I've read to date. Demos has a very particular way of describing early American history that's just fascinating. I will be coming back to this book for years to come.

[Rebecca Malzer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is interesting with interesting points. While I don't necessarily agree with all of his point, he is still pointing out the importance of looking at the mundane in history. Additionally, this book sort of felt like Demos did shrooms one night with access to Microsoft Word. Still very interesting.

[Whitney · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was OK. The author is the professor I'll be working with at Yale in a week, so I had to read it. There were some interesting insights into early colonial life, but if I didn't have to read it, I wouldn't have.

[Robinkgood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although a short book, it is full of fascinating revelations about how early Americans experienced time. Highly recommended.