Peter Gurney is Professor of British Social History at the University of Essex, UK.

The book provides important insights into class and gender as it pertains to politics and consumption, and highlights the dueling sense of satisfaction and anxiety that has characterized modern consumer culture. The well-paced analysis likewise traces the evolution of consumption-related practices such as advertising and the experience of shopping. The agency of consumers themselves is covered as well; Gurney’s treatment of the history of cooperative ventures is particularly instructive in this regard ... Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.

• List of IllustrationsList of Abbreviations1. Historicising Consumer Culture Part One: A New World of Goods: 1800-1870Preface 2. Producing Consumers: Consumption Practices 3. Alternative Paths: The Politics of Consumption Part Two: Making a Mass Market: 1870-1920Preface 4. Image Worlds: The Rise of Modern Advertising 5. Shopping as Pleasure: Department Stores 6. Co-op Commonwealth: Consumer Organising Part Three: A Consumers’ Democracy: 1920-2000Preface 7. Ideal Home: The Growth of the New Consumerism 8. Mass Consumerism: From Austerity to Affluence 9. Consumer Culture: The Hegemony of Choice Epilogue: Satisfaction Guaranteed? Sources Select bibliography

Peter Gurney is Professor of British Social History at the University of Essex, UK.

The book provides important insights into class and gender as it pertains to politics and consumption, and highlights the dueling sense of satisfaction and anxiety that has characterized modern consumer culture. The well-paced analysis likewise traces the evolution of consumption-related practices such as advertising and the experience of shopping. The agency of consumers themselves is covered as well; Gurney’s treatment of the history of cooperative ventures is particularly instructive in this regard ... Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.

• List of IllustrationsList of Abbreviations1. Historicising Consumer Culture Part One: A New World of Goods: 1800-1870Preface 2. Producing Consumers: Consumption Practices 3. Alternative Paths: The Politics of Consumption Part Two: Making a Mass Market: 1870-1920Preface 4. Image Worlds: The Rise of Modern Advertising 5. Shopping as Pleasure: Department Stores 6. Co-op Commonwealth: Consumer Organising Part Three: A Consumers’ Democracy: 1920-2000Preface 7. Ideal Home: The Growth of the New Consumerism 8. Mass Consumerism: From Austerity to Affluence 9. Consumer Culture: The Hegemony of Choice Epilogue: Satisfaction Guaranteed? Sources Select bibliography