Empire of Things: How We Became a World of Consumers, from the Fifteenth Century to the Twenty-First Hardcover – 28 Jan 2016

Review

Monumental ... A rich picture of the variegated human impulses that have impelled the history of consumption ... The sheer breadth of Trentmann's panorama is impressive and no one can fail to learn from it (Adam Tooze Guardian)

The first total history of consumption ... An original, ambitious account that begins in the fifteenth century, spans the globe, and examines a wide range of regimes, from liberal democracies to fascist dictatorships ... [Empire of Things] could hardly be more relevant (Victoria de Grazia Foreign Affairs)

[Empire of Things] is wider in scope geographically, historically and socially than anything preceding it ... The epilogue to this story of consumption is salutary: history is essential to our understanding of the continuing rise in material consumption far beyond a sustainable level (Ethical Consumer)

I have never encountered a work that so perfectly assesses the influence of shopping on the human experience. Empire of Things is a masterpiece of historical research but also, much more importantly, a delight to read ... This book consistently entertains while it informs. In contrast to so many historians, Trentmann has the ability to write for the multitude without compromising on intellectual rigour. A historian who can communicate is a rare and beautiful thing (Gerard DeGroot The Times)

Utterly fascinating ... What makes Trentmann's book such a pleasure to read is not just the wealth of detail or the staggering international range, but the refreshing absence of moaning or moralising about our supposed addiction to owning more stuff (Dominic Sandbrook Sunday Times)

Never overwhelms ... A book that can be dipped into and enjoyed at leisure ... Fascinating. You can't not learn something new here ... [An] epic tale (Marcus Tanner Independent)

In order for me to try to convince you of how good this book is, I need to point out just how unqualified I am to review it. I'm not an economist ... Nor am I a social historian. Yet I read Empire Of Things with unflagging fascination ... [Trentmann] is not only an elegant, adventurous and colourful writer, he also manages the tricky balancing act of being eminently sensible and gleefully provocative. All too aptly, he has produced a thing to covet. (John Preston Daily Mail)

An impressive work of synthesis and [...] a timely corrective to much existing scholarship ... Based on specialist studies that range across five centuries, six continents and at least as many languages, the book is encyclopedic in the best sense ... The implications for our current moment are significant: sustainable consumption habits are as likely to result from social movements and political action as they are from self-imposed shopping fasts and wardrobe purges ... Empire of Things pushes repeatedly against the literature that conceptualises consumption as a matter of individual choice alone ... Fascinating (Rebecca Spang Financial Times)

[A] masterwork ... Knowing the global history of consumption allows for the possibility of change. Trentmann's meticulously researched but readable treatise is an excellent start (PopMatters)

Trentmann's history of material culture is impressive in its breadth and scholarship. Anyone with compulsive buying disorder should buy a copy, or two, or three. Ka-ching! Ka-ching! (Ian Thomson Observer)

A magnum opus; a fine read; an encyclopaedic account of consumerism throughout the ages (BBC Radio 4)

Studded with surprising examples and illuminating case studies, it's hugely thought-provoking (Book of the Month History Revealed)

Dazzling ... Truly global (Donald Sassoon Literary Review)

The focus of this huge and ambitious book is far wider than merely shopping ... Trentmann starts by eschewing moral judgments on consumerism - yet ends with a powerful environmental critique of over-consumption. In terms of waste alone, the impact of even a high-tech, services-based economy is shocking: even if production of many things we consume is outsourced around the world, we still consume those resources and produce CO2 as a result. It's difficult not to conclude, as he does, that we need "a deeper and longer-lasting connection to fewer things" (Andrew Neather Evening Standard)

In this magisterial volume, Frank Trentmann takes us through time and across national borders to provide a comprehensive history of how people the world over have come to live with more and more things. Here is the crucial backstory to every consumer exchange (Lizabeth Cohen, author of 'A Consumers' Republic: The Politics of Mass Consumption in Postwar America')

Empire of Things is something to behold; a compelling account of consumerism that revels in its staggering breadth and depth. Frank Trentmann has written a necessary and important book about one of the defining characteristics of our times (Amanda Foreman, author of 'Georgiana', winner of the Whitbread Prize, and 'A World on Fire')

A professor of history at Birkbeck college at the University of London, Trentmann covers 600 years of consumer culture. But he also chucks several bricks into one of the most important debates in politics and economics today (Aditya Chakrabortty Guardian)

Mad-cap consumption dwarfs population growth and war as the most destructive - and apparently irreversible - source of pressure on the resources of our planet. But, despite tenacious academic efforts, we still do not know why we got into this mess. Empire of Things - comprehensively informed, impeccably scholarly, vividly detailed, delightfully written - is the indispensable starting-point for anyone who wants to understand how in the last half-millennium every effort to restrain consumers failed, while revolutions in consumption kept piling up waste and warnings (Felipe Fernández-Armesto, author of 'Millennium' and 'Civilizations')

From the Back Cover

What we consume has become a central perhaps the central feature of modern life.

Our economies live or die by spending, and we increasingly define ourselves by our possessions. This ever-richer lifestyle has had a profound impact on our planet. How have we come to live with so much stuff, and how has this changed the course of history?

In Empire of Things, Frank Trentmann unfolds the extraordinary story of our modern material world, from Renaissance Italy and late Ming China to today s global economy. While consumption is often portrayed as a recent American export, this monumental and richly detailed account shows that it is, in fact, a truly international phenomenon with a much longer and more diverse history. Trentmann traces the influence of trade and empire on tastes, as formerly exotic goods like coffee, tobacco, Indian cotton, and Chinese porcelain conquered the world, and explores the growing demand for home furnishings, fashionable clothes, and convenience that transformed private and public life. The nineteenth and twentieth centuries brought department stores, credit cards, and advertising, but also the rise of the ethical shopper, new generational identities, and, eventually, the resurgence of the Asian consumer.

With an eye to the present and future, Trentmann provides a long view on the global challenges of our

relentless pursuit of more from waste and debt to stress and inequality. A masterpiece of research and storytelling many years in the making, Empire of Things recounts the epic history of the goods that have seduced, enriched, and unsettled our lives over the past six hundred years.

Praise for Empire of Things

Empire of Things is a masterpiece of historical research . . . a delight to read. The Times (UK)

Empire of Things is something to behold; a compelling account of consumerism that revels in its staggering breadth and depth. Frank Trentmann has written a necessary and important book about one of the defining characteristics of our times. Amanda Foreman, author of Georgiana, winner of the Whitbread Prize, and A World on Fire

Impeccably scholarly, vividly detailed, and delightfully written, Empire of Things is the indispensable starting point for anyone who wants to understand how, in the last half millennium, every effort to restrain consumers has failed, while revolutions in consumption keep piling up stuff and waste. Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, author of Millennium and Civilizations In this magisterial volume, Frank Trentmann takes us through time and across national borders to provide a comprehensive history of how people the world over have come to live with more and more things. Here is the crucial backstory to every consumer exchange. Lizabeth Cohen, author of A Consumers Republic Empire of Things is an extraordinary, Braudelian achievement. It is impossible to imagine that any one person would be able to do a better job than Frank Trentmann. John Brewer, author of The Pleasures of the Imagination, winner of the Wolfson History Prize" --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.