Description
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewWest's discussion of the role that advertising played in the development of consumption-oriented individualism contributes to the very scant knowledge available on change at the level of personal identity in late imperial Russia.
-- Louise McReynolds, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
"This fascinating and beautifully-written manuscript offers readers a sophisticated account of the paradoxes of Russian consumer culture in the late Imperial period. It complicates older historiography on economic developments during this time-which has focused overwhelmingly on agrarian policies and state-sponsored industrialization. It contributes to a growing literature on modern consumerism in Imperial Russia. And it provides a nuanced reading of the intersection of gender, class, and national identity with the burgeoning commercial sphere. The text's gender analysis moves beyond a focus on ideas about femininity and female gender norms to incorporate constructs of masculinity and male gender norms. This is a significant and welcome intervention."—Amy Randall, Santa Clara University
This richly researched and beautifully illustrated monograph deserves a readership beyond its appeal to historians of consumer culture. The analysis of advertising in the late imperial Russian context is sustained and convincing. It draws upon a long- and well-established scholarly tradition, most notably from Walter Benjamin.
-- Ian D. Thatcher * European History Quarterly *
