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Bestseller
BestsellerE-book
Author Robertson, Craig, 1969-

Title The passport in America : the history of a document / Craig Robertson.

Publication Info. New York : Oxford University Press, 2010.

Item Status

Description 1 online resource (x, 340 pages) : illustrations
Physical Medium polychrome
Description text file
Summary "In today's world of constant identification checks, it's difficult to recall that there was ever a time when "proof of identity" was not a part of everyday life. And as anyone knows who has ever lost a passport, or let one expire on the eve of international travel, the passport has become an indispensable document. But how and why did this form of identification take on such a crucial role? In the first history of the passport in the United States, Craig Robertson offers an illuminating account of how this document, above all others, came to be considered a reliable answer to the question: who are you? Historically, the passport originated as an official letter of introduction addressed to foreign governments on behalf of American travelers, but as Robertson shows, it became entangled in contemporary negotiations over citizenship and other forms of identity documentation. Prior to World War I, passports were not required to cross American borders, and while some people struggled to understand how a passport could accurately identify a person, others took advantage of this new document to advance claims for citizenship. From the strategic use of passport applications by freed slaves and a campaign to allow married women to get passports in their maiden names, to the "passport nuisance" of the 1920s and the contested addition of photographs and other identification technologies on the passport, Robertson sheds new light on issues of individual and national identity in modern U.S. history. In this age of heightened security, especially at international borders, Robertson's The Passport in America provides anyone interested in questions of identification and surveillance with a richly detailed, and often surprising, history of this uniquely important document"--Provided by publisher.
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents Machine generated contents note: -- Introduction -- Part I: Assembling the Passport -- Ch 1: Document -- Ch 2: Name -- Ch 3: Signature -- Ch 4: Physical Description -- Ch 5: Photograph -- Ch 6: Application -- Ch 7: Issurance -- Part II: Using the Passport -- Ch 8: Dubious Citizens -- Ch 9: Dishonest People and Untrustworthy Documents -- Ch 10: Reading Bodies, Reading Documents, and "Passport Control" -- Ch 11: "The Passport Nuisance" -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography.
Local Note eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - North America
Subject Passports -- United States -- History.
Passports.
United States.
History.
Citizenship -- United States -- History.
Citizenship.
Genre/Form Electronic books.
History.
Subject Passports.
Other Form: Print version: Robertson, Craig. Passport in America. New York : Oxford University Press, 2010 9780199733422 (DLC) 2009049008 (OCoLC)457160531
ISBN 9780199750856 (electronic book)
0199750858 (electronic book)