A Consumers' Republic by Lizabeth Cohen

A Consumers' Republic by Lizabeth Cohen

In this signal work of history, Bancroft Prize winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist Lizabeth Cohen shows how the pursuit of prosperity after World War I fueled our pervasive consumer mentality and transformed American life.
Trumpeted as a means to promote the general welfare, mass consumption quickly outgrew its economic objectives and became synonymous with patriotism, social equality, and the American Dream. Material goods came to embody the promise of America, and the power of consumers to purchase everything from vacuum cleaners to convertibles gave rise to the power of citizens to purchase political influence and effect social change. Yet despite undeniable successes and unprecedented affluence, mass consumption also fostered economic inequality and the fracturing of society along gender, class, and racial lines. In charting the complex legacy of our Consumers' Republic Lizabeth Cohen has written a bold, encompassing, and profoundly influential book.

Lizabeth Cohen is the Howard Mumford Jones Professor of American Studies at Harvard University's Department of History. Building a New Deal: Industrial Workers in Chicago, 1919-1939, was a nominee for the Pulitzer Prize and earned the Bancroft Prize and the Philip Taft Labor History Award. She is the coauthor (with David Kennedy) of The American Pageant, a collection of articles and essays. Her spouse and two daughters reside with her in Belmont, Massachusetts.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780375707377
ISBN 10	0375707379
Title	A Consumers' Republic
Author	Lizabeth Cohen
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Random House USA Inc
Year published	2003-12-30
Number of pages	576
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.