consumerism

The Author’s Corner with Ellen Hartigan-O’Connor

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Ellen Hartigan-O’Connor is Professor of History and Associate Dean for Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Scholars at the University of California, Davis. This interview is based on her new book, America Under the Hammer: Auctions and the Emergence of Market Values (University […]

The Author’s Corner with Steven Watts

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Steven Watts is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Missouri. This interview is based on his new book, Citizen Cowboy: Will Rogers and the American People (Cambridge University Press, 2024). JF: What led you to write Citizen Cowboy? […]

The Author’s Corner with Dean Lampros

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Dean Lampros is Lecturer in the Department of History, Philosophy, and the Social Sciences at the Rhode Island School of Design. This interview is based on his new book, Preserved: A Cultural History of the Funeral Home in America (Johns […]

The Author’s Corner with Caleb Wellum

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Caleb Wellum is Assistant Professor of U.S. History at the University of Toronto, Mississauga. This interview is based on his new book, Energizing Neoliberalism: The 1970s Energy Crisis and the Making of Modern America (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2023). JF: […]

The Author’s Corner with Jennifer M. Black

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Jennifer M. Black is Associate Professor and Program Director of History at Misericordia University. This interview is based on her new book, Branding Trust: Advertising and Trademarks in Nineteenth-Century America (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2023). JF: What led you to […]

The Author’s Corner with Adam R. Nelson

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Adam R. Nelson is Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of Educational Policy Studies and History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. This interview is based on his new book, Exchange of Ideas: The Economy of Higher Education in Early America (University of Chicago […]

A socialist take on the Barbie movie

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This week Current ran two great pieces on the Barbie movie. Check out Christina Bieber Lake’s “Barbie. . . and Ken” and Beatruce Scudeler’s “Material Girls.” Over at Current Affairs, Nathan Robinson interprets the movie through the lens of consumer […]

When Gucci and Judith Butler meet

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What happens when Gucci uses a book by philosopher Judith Butler to sell high-priced wallets? Here is Umut Ă–zkırımlı at The Critic: Books as objects of attraction? Is that what brought Butler and Gucci together? I don’t mean the commodification […]

Pope Francis on “consumerist greed” and “selfish hearts”

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Here is Claire GiangravĂ© at Religion News Service: Pope Francis condemned “consumerist greed” and “selfish hearts” as responsible for the climate crisis in his yearly message for World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, which occurs on Sept. […]

Boyhood and guns

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Over at JSTOR Daily, Rachael Kay Albers asks “how marketing made guns a fundamental element of contemporary boyhood.” She calls attention to the scholarly work of Charles-Edward Anderson, Anne G. Kimball, Sarah L. Olson, Jay Mechling, Wendy Varney, and Garen […]

The Trump superstore!

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Yes, such a thing exists. It is located in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Here is Jenny Powers at Business Insider: When I was in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, I spotted a billboard advertising a Donald Trump superstore. My […]

Historian Lizabeth Cohen on why Americans love to shop

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Here is the Harvard historian‘s recent interview with NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly: KELLY: We’re glad to have you with us. I want to go back and try to figure out how this started that Americans became such champion consumers. And […]

Is Wawa about to plant a flag in Sheetz country?

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Unless you live in Pennsylvania and the surrounding area you probably have no idea what the title of this post means. Get up to speed here: It looks like Wawa is starting to make some inroads into Sheetz country. Here […]

The history of back-to-school shopping

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Here’s a relevant piece. Erin Blakemore of JSTOR Daily offers a brief history of back-to-school shopping. A taste: Saddle shoes and sweaters, milk bars and ballerina flats. In the mid-twentieth century, you could find all four at college shops: pop-up […]