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Informationen zum Autor Reginal Lee Blaszczyk , Visiting Scholar in the Department of the History and Sociology of Science at the University of Pennsylvania, received a B.A. from Marlboro College, an M.A. from George Washington University, and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the Hagley Program at the University of Delaware. A specialist in the history of capitalism and consumer culture, Blaszczyk has published numerous books, articles, and reviews. Her first book, Imagining Consumers: Design and Innovation from Wedgwood to Corning (2000), received the Hagley Prize for the Best Book in Business History for 2001, and her co-edited reader, Major Problems in American Business History; Documents and Essays (2006), is widely used in courses on American capitalism. Partners in Innovation: Science Education and the Science Workforce (edited; 2005) considers the skills needed to compete in the global business environment, while Producing Fashion: Commerce, Culture, and Consumers (edited; 2008) suggests new approaches to the history of fashion, business, and consumer culture. Blaszczyk has received fellowships from Harvard University's Charles Warren Center for Studies n American History, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Chemical Heritage Foundation. She has taught at Boston University, Rutgers University-Camden, the University of Delaware, and the University of Pennsylvania, and spent eleven years as a cultural history curator at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. In 2008, she received the Harold F. Williamson Prize in Business History for mid-career achievement from the Business History Conference, the largest international association of business historians. Klappentext This startlingly original and highly readable volume adds a new richness and depth to an element of U.S. history that is all too often taken for granted. Zusammenfassung Examines the emergence of consumerism in the Victorian era. This book also shows how the emergence of a mass market was followed by its fragmentation. It demonstrates that middle-class consumerism is an intrinsic part of American identity! but exactly how consumerism reflected that identity changed over time. Inhaltsverzeichnis Foreword vii Introduction 1 Shopping for a Perfect Self 1 The Passion for Possessions 2 Dissonant Voices 3 Treasures and Throwaways 4 From KnickKnacks to Kickin' Back 5 Part One 7 Victorian America, 1865-1900 8 Victorians, Hierarchy, and Progress 8 Early European Antecedents 10 Opportunities for Display 11 1876 Centennial Exposition, the Industrial Cornucopia 14 The Allure of Cities 16 The Rise of the New Middle Class 18 Labor's Consumerist Turn 20 Buying American or Pursuing Empire? 22 Advertising Abundance 23 Chapter One Home, Sweet Home 28 Separate Spheres 29 Dreams of Home Ownership 31 Womanly Creativity and the Art Craze 35 The Victorian Parlor 38 "Making Do" 40 Toward Modern Simplicity: The Bungalow and the Living Room 43 Martha Stewart Revisited 49 Chapter Two: Dress Codes 51 Fashion and Social Identity 53 Ready-to-Wear and the Democratization of Clothing 54 The Clothes Make the Man: Dark Suits and White Collars 56 Corsets and the Hourglass Shape 60 The Art of Dressmaking 61 The Easter Parade 64 Stepping Out with the Gibson Girl and Arrow Man 67 Why Fashion Mattered 70 Chapter Three New Ways to Shop 73 Dry-Goods Emporiums 74 Department Stores as "Palaces of Consumption" 76 John Wanamaker's Luxury Department Store 77 Five-and-Tens 79 Window Shopping 82 Mail-Order Ca...
