Introduction 1 One buildings and systems 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 hospitality 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 nation of hosts and guests 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 contents