Consumption has often been called America's true national pastime. From
the earliest European explorers trading with Native Americans to today's
Internet shoppers, consumerism has driven American society. Until recent
years, however, consumerism has received little serious attention from
historians and other scholars.
This welcome volume offers the most comprehensive and incisive
exploration of American consumer history to date. The first book on this
topic to span the four centuries from the colonial era to the present,
and the first to propose theoretical frameworks, the volume brings
consumer society to the center of American history. Indeed, its authors
demonstrate the many ways their research enhances knowledge of a broad
range of historical topics, such as politics, labor ideology, immigrant
life, and race, gender, and class relations. By including types of
consumer studies which are seldom linked, this volume offers both a
basis for historical synthesis and a springboard for further inquiry.
With contributions by Raymond Williams, Jean Baudrillard, Juliet B.
Schor, Kim Moody, Jean-Christophe Agnew, and many others, plus the most
comprehensive bibliographical essay ever produced on the historiography
of American consumption, Consumer Society in American History will
take its place as the definitive sourcebook for this emerging field.