The Democratic History of the U.S. Post Office

Photograph showing an operator preparing to feed a carrier holding about 500 letters into the transmitter for dispatch through the tube from Brooklyn Post Office to New York General Post Office.

Winifred Gallagher gives a history of the US Postal Service, and explains how mail delivery has fueled political, cultural and economic change in America. In How the Post Office Created America: A History, Gallagher argues that, even though the Post Office predates the Declaration of Independence, it remains an underappreciated and overlooked institution.