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The Passport in America - The History of a Document (Paperback)
Loot Price: R1,078
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The Passport in America - The History of a Document (Paperback)
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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.
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