- Paperback: 521 pages
- Publisher: Vintage Books; 1st Vintage Books Ed edition (30 April 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0679754113
- ISBN-13: 978-0679754114
- Product Dimensions: 13.1 x 2.8 x 20.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 713,927 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Land of Desire
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Product Description
Product Description
This monumental work of cultural history was nominated for a National Book Award. It chronicles America's transformation, beginning in 1880, into a nation of consumers, devoted to a cult of comfort, bodily well-being, and endless acquisition. 24 pages of photos.
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First Sentence
"They have emerged," wrote economist Edward Mead, husband of Emily Fogg Mead, of the new business corporations, in 1910, "like the trees in the primeval forest, wide and deep in the desires and necessities of mankind." Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
"They have emerged," wrote economist Edward Mead, husband of Emily Fogg Mead, of the new business corporations, in 1910, "like the trees in the primeval forest, wide and deep in the desires and necessities of mankind." Read the first page
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Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Ostensibly a history of the department store in America, this book is a must-read for those wishing to understand the orgins and growth of the culture of comsumerism in the United States--which, as Leach penetratingly documents, has become so largely synonymous with American culture in general, and, increasingly, with world cultures beyond it.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
8 reviews
26 of 26 people found the following review helpful
Brilliant, scholarly, beautifully written
23 Aug 1998
Format:Paperback
Ostensibly a history of the department store in America, this book is a revelatory primer for those wishing to understand the origins and growth of the culture of comsumerism in the United States. As Leach convincingly documents, consumerism is an artificial, carefully crafted construct clearly traceable to particular people and places in our history. Their paradigm of consumption, Leach further shows, is one that has come to consume American culture in general--and, increasingly, world cultures beyond it.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
A Great Book
27 Mar 2010
Format:Paperback
I don't think I've read a better non-fiction work. The prodigious research is presented in a continuously diverting way. The evolution of Salesmanship in its many forms is explored in colorful depth: floor design, window design (Who knew that until the 1930s "all the show windows at Marshall Field's were covered on Sundays out of respect" for the founder's religiosity?), classified ads, mail-order catalogues. The paradigmatic figure of John Wanamaker is presented vividly and multi-dimensionally; anecdotal details along the way illuminate a whole period of American history I'd paid only scant attention to before. Thank you Mr. Leach, you've started a whole new reading list for me! In fact, my only criticism of the book is the lack of a bibliography. There are book (and journal and letter and interview) references among the copious footnotes, but no single list. The research Mr. Leach did is obviously staggering. How many of us have read "The Dry Goods Economist" or "The Show Window" - the latter founded and edited by L. Frank Baum -? This is a work animated by both a dedication to the highest principles of scholarship, and a passion for the subject that is (in my case at least) contagious.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
interesting
9 Nov 2008
Format:Paperback
I found Leach's book very insightful and interesting. He thoroughly dissects and explains the history and creation of consumer culture in the U. S. during the 1880s-1920s. Every avenue involved in consumer culture is discussed in this easy to read text.
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