Introduction 1

One b u i l d i n g s a n d s y s t e m s 11

1. A Public House for a New Republic: Inventing the American

Hotel, 1789–1815 13

2. Palaces of the Public: The American Hotel Comes

of Age, 1815–1840 45

3. The Hotel System: Assembling a Transcontinental

Accommodation Network, 1840–1876 75

4. Imperial Hotels and Hotel Empires: Tourism, Expansion,

Standardization, and the Beginning of the End of a Hotel

Age, 1876–1908 110

Two h o s p i t a l i t y 137

5. The House of Strangers: The Transformation of Hospitality

and the Everyday Life of the Hotel 142

6. The Law of Hospitality: The Common Law of Innkeepers

and the Public Space of the Hotel 186

7. Unruly Guests and Anxious Hosts: Sex, Theft, and Violence

at the Hotel 203

Three a n a t i o n o f h o s t s a n d g u e s t s 229

8. American Forum: Hotels and Civil Society 231

9. Homes for a World of Strangers: House, Hotel, Apartment

Building 263

10. Accommodating Jim Crow: The Law of Hospitality and the

Struggle for Civil Rights 284

Conclusion 312

Notes 317

Acknowledgments 357

Illustration Credits 360

Index 363

c o n t e n t s

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