The story of Asaph Perry

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THE STORY'S CONTEXT
Opening Why Asaph Technological Change The 20th Century

This is the story of Asaph Perry. It is one of normal dimensions. He was not a famous figure from political or military history. Nor did the circumstance of his life thrust him to the forefront. Asaph (or W. A. as some called him) was a typical man from a small southern town who, with his wife Ethel, worked hard to raise and support a family. There are no statues built to honor him, nor are there stories to dishonor him. He is strikingly average which (ironically) makes him worthy of our attention. Of course, there are plenty of interesting and unique things about Asaph, if only that he occupies our attention at this time and place.

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Writing the story

As we constructed this story we decided to tell two versions of the same story. One story is about Asaph - a man who lived and worked and loved and died in a small North Georgia textile mill town. His story is interesting as a window into a short period of time which saw tremendous change. In the first thirty years of Aspah's life (1870-1900), the United States would go from a fractured nation 5 years removed from a catastrophic Civil War - to an economic, political, and military power leading the world through revolutionary times.

We also want to tell another story, somewhat larger in scope, one rooted in the complexities of social life and expectations. We deicide to tell that story along with Aspah's in the same place. Just to contrast Aspah's life with the life of his father enables us to get a glimpse at how life in general changed in the last 3 decades of the 19th century - here we are able to tell both stories in one place. We have no formal convention for delineating the two stories, although the Story Lines listed on the left are primarily organized around the themes in our larger story.