Description
Book Synopsis'How much does it cost?' We think of this question as one that preoccupies the nation's shoppers, not its statesmen. This book shows, the twentieth-century American polity in fact developed in response to that very consumer concern. It offers an interpretation of state power by integrating popular politics and policymaking.
Trade ReviewWinner of the 2006 Ellis W. Hawley Prize, Organization of American Historians Winner of the 2006 New England Historical Association Book Prize, New England Historical Association "Meg Jacobs strides boldly through the shards of the old, broken narrative and, with her eye on previously overlooked actors and events, constructs a new story of the rise and fall of the New Deal order. This extraordinary work offers a fresh narrative about American liberalism... [O]ne of the most important pieces of political history this decade."--Jennifer Mittelstadt, Reviews in American History "Meg Jacobs offers a fresh and persuasive interpretation of major policy developments in the early twentieth century. Pocketbook Politic is a key addition to the growing literature in which the study of consumption promotes synthesis in historical scholarship."--Liette Gidlow, The Journal of American History "It is a tribute to this first-rate study that it opens up ... fundamental issues in exciting new ways. Every serious student of modern U.S. political history and political economy will profit from reading Jacobs's path-breaking scholarship."--Robert Collins, EH.NET "This unapologetic political history [is] refreshingly direct, revealing, and persuasive. It should become a standard text for students of the period."--Gary Cross, Business History Review
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction Economic Citizenship in the Twentieth Century 1 PART I. THE HIGH COST OF LIVING AND THE RISE OF POCKETBOOK POLITICS, 1900-1930 Chapter One: From the Bargain Basement to the Bargaining Table, 1900-1917 15 Chapter Two: Business without a Buyer, 1917-1930 53 PART II. PURCHASING POWER TO THE PEOPLE, 1930-1940 Chapter Three: The New Deal and the Problem of Prices, 1930-1935 95 Chapter Four: The New Deal and the Problem of Wages, 1935-1940 136 PART III. THE EVILS OF INFLATION IN WAR AND PEACE, 1940-1960 Chapter Five: The Consumer Goes to War, 1940-1946 179 Chapter Six: Pocketbook Politics in an Age of Inflation, 1946-1960 221 Epilogue: Back to Bargain Hunting 262 Notes 266 Index 327
