Main entry:

Leach, William, 1944-

Title & Author:

Land of desire : merchants, power, and the rise of a new American culture / William Leach.

Edition:

1st ed.

Publication:

New York : Pantheon Books, ©1993.

Description:

xvii, 510 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 391-486) and index.
Introduction: The Land of Desire and the Culture of Consumer Capitalism -- I. Strategies of Enticement. 1. The Dawn of a Commercial Empire. 2. Facades of Color, Glass, and Light. 3. Interiors. 4. Fashion and the Indispensable Thing. 5. Ali Baba's Lamp: Service for Private and Public Benefit -- II. Circuits of Power. 6. "Business Runs the World": Institutional Coalitions Behind the New Order. 7. Wanamaker's Simple Life and the Moral Failure of Established Religion. 8. Mind Cure and the Happiness Machine -- III. Managing a Dream Culture: 1922-1932. 9. "An Age of Consolidation": Goods, Money, and Mergermania. 10. "Sell Them Their Dreams" 11. The Spectacles. 12. Herbert Hoover's Emerald City and Managerial Government -- Conclusion: Legacies.
Herbert Hoover Book Award, 1993.

Summary:

Absorbing and incisive, Land of Desire tells the story of a fundamental transformation in the culture and economy of America - the rise of mass-market consumerism and the attendant shift to a society "preoccupied with consumption, with comfort and bodily well-being, with luxury, spending, and acquisition, with more goods this year than last, more next year than this." Tracing the rise of American mass-market culture from its beginnings in the 1890s, William Leach reveals how pioneering and visionary merchant princes - John Wanamaker, the Straus brothers, Marshall Field, and A.T. Stewart - constructed the modern department store business and lured millions of buyers with remarkable feats of showmanship. Spectacular displays with dazzling light and color effects and marching bands and bugle corps were part of the pageantry employed to entice Americans into the pleasure of consumption and indulgence. Famous architects and stage designers were enlisted to create the proper atmosphere, and they became part of a complex network of relationships involving banks, hotels, churches, museums, universities, and government that helped these merchants, in effect, create and disseminate a new mentality predicated on acquisition and consumption as a means of achieving happiness. A fascinating tale of American business, one that is particularly resonant amid the undertow of today's staggering trade deficits and retail bankruptcies, Land of Desire raises some disturbing questions about how the work ethic of an earlier America was superseded by a new consumer culture that came to dominate, reshape, and ultimately define America.

Resources:
Table of contents

ISBN:

0394543505
9780394543505
0679754113 paperback
9780679754114

Subject:

Department stores United States History.
Sales promotion United States History.
Department stores Social aspects United States History.
Consumer behavior United States History.
Consommateurs - Comportement - États-Unis - Histoire.
Grands magasins - Aspect social - États-Unis - Histoire.
Grands magasins - États-Unis - Histoire.
Ventes - Promotion - États-Unis - Histoire.
Grands magasins États-Unis Histoire.
Ventes Promotion États-Unis Histoire.
Grands magasins Aspect social États-Unis Histoire.
Consommateurs Comportement États-Unis Histoire.
15.85 history of America.
Commercial policy
Consumer behavior
Department stores
Department stores Social aspects
Sales promotion
Verbrauch
Wirtschaft
Zivilisation
Warenhuizen.
Consumentengedrag.
Verkooptechnieken.
Consumptiemaatschappij.
Oorsprong.
United States Commercial policy History.
États-Unis - Politique commerciale - Histoire.
États-Unis Politique commerciale Histoire.
United States
USA
Consumer United History
Department Social United History
Department United History
Geschichte 1890-1932
Sales United History
United Commercial History
consumenten
consumers
economie
economics
geschiedenis
history
middenklassen
middle classes
samenleving
society
sociologie
sociology
vs
usa
Economic, Social, and Cultural History of North America
Economische, sociale en cultuurgeschiedenis van Noord-Amerika

Form/genre:

History
Books.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 109881
Call No.: ID PLS HF5465.U5.L4; ID:94-B412
Status: Available