Empire of Things: How We Became a World of Consumers, from the Fifteenth Century to the Twenty-First
Empire of Things: How We Became a World of Consumers, from the Fifteenth Century to the Twenty-First
Description
He has been the Fernand Braudel Senior Fellow at the European University Institute in Florence, as well as a visiting professor at Bielefeld University, the University of St. In 2014 he was awarded the Moore Distinguished Fellowship at the California Institute of Technology.. Gallen, the British Academy, and the École des hautes études en sciences so
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.. What we consume has become a central—perhaps the central—feature of modern 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, Frank Trentmann provides a long view on the global challenges of our relentless pursuit of more—from waste and debt to stress and inequality. 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 g
"A non-addicitve sleep aid" according to Mad Dog. Vast in scope, mind-numbing in detail, prolix beyond belief, and so repetitive you'll get very tired of knowing how many shirts Jacob had in his chest in 1611.and, in the end, inconclusive. The book does not elucidate HOW we became a world of consumers (apparently we always have been) it just documents ad nauseum and ad infinitum that we are. No fooling.. One of my "Books of the Year" Jehoshephat This is an extraordinary book, bringing in wide swaths of history, economics and sociology around the globe from the 15th to the 21st centuries. It's full of facts, their contexts and the author's interpretations, and nothing is included just to function as padding; it's all good. Even better, the book is written in straightforward, fluent English, not in academic-ese, and the organization (chronological a. Erik Nielsen said Great read, well researched. Great read, well researched, probably the most interesting and insightful history book I've read in a long time. Wonderful job putting today's society in context and providing the insight into how we are were we are.
“A sweepingly detailed history of humanity’s passion for the possession of objects an epic chronicle.” (Wall Street Journal)“Massively ambitious… Trentmann displays astonishing erudition across multiple disciplines.” (Washington Post)“In this important book, Trentmann argues that our increasingly complex consumer societies have evolved over five centuries.” (Financial Times (A Summer Book of 2016))“Big,