Sandra Tomc is Professor of English Language and Literatures at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver.

Vividly written and brilliantly argued, Fashion Nation brings the 19th century to life by showing how the idea of a superficial, surface-loving America evolves over the course of the long 19th century. Though focused on surface displays ranging from sartorial excess to glittering amusement parks, Fashion Nation is a deeply searching and absorbing look into how such display served to consolidate and signal American ethnic national identity. This study will open new ways of interpreting visuality across the American literary canon, American culture, and beyond.

• Acknowledgements List of Illustrations Introduction Chapter One. American Looks Chapter Two. Restyling an Old World: Metropolitan Fashion in the Antebellum U.S.Chapter Three. “Clothes Upon Sticks”: The Settler Colonial Sartorial EyeChapter Four. Some Inscrutable Flattery of the Atmosphere: The Ethnic Nation in the White City Conclusion Index

Sandra Tomc is Professor of English Language and Literatures at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver.

Vividly written and brilliantly argued, Fashion Nation brings the 19th century to life by showing how the idea of a superficial, surface-loving America evolves over the course of the long 19th century. Though focused on surface displays ranging from sartorial excess to glittering amusement parks, Fashion Nation is a deeply searching and absorbing look into how such display served to consolidate and signal American ethnic national identity. This study will open new ways of interpreting visuality across the American literary canon, American culture, and beyond.

• Acknowledgements List of Illustrations Introduction Chapter One. American Looks Chapter Two. Restyling an Old World: Metropolitan Fashion in the Antebellum U.S.Chapter Three. “Clothes Upon Sticks”: The Settler Colonial Sartorial EyeChapter Four. Some Inscrutable Flattery of the Atmosphere: The Ethnic Nation in the White City Conclusion Index

Sandra Tomc is Professor of English Language and Literatures at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver.

Vividly written and brilliantly argued, Fashion Nation brings the 19th century to life by showing how the idea of a superficial, surface-loving America evolves over the course of the long 19th century. Though focused on surface displays ranging from sartorial excess to glittering amusement parks, Fashion Nation is a deeply searching and absorbing look into how such display served to consolidate and signal American ethnic national identity. This study will open new ways of interpreting visuality across the American literary canon, American culture, and beyond.

• Acknowledgements List of Illustrations Introduction Chapter One. American Looks Chapter Two. Restyling an Old World: Metropolitan Fashion in the Antebellum U.S.Chapter Three. “Clothes Upon Sticks”: The Settler Colonial Sartorial EyeChapter Four. Some Inscrutable Flattery of the Atmosphere: The Ethnic Nation in the White City Conclusion Index