Description
Book SynopsisFrom the 1920s until the Second World War, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand filled British shop windows, newspapers, and cinema screens with 'British to the core' Canadian apples, 'British to the backbone' New Zealand lamb, and 'All British' Australian butter. Selling Britishness explores the role of commodity marketing in creating "Britishness."
Trade Review‘Felicity Barnes covers new ground in her study of the construction of dominion Britishness by emphasising trade and focusing the interwar period – still neglected in the historiography – as well as by bringing gender and race to the fore. The book is an invaluable contribution to debates about the British world.’ Andrew Dilley, University of Aberdeen and author of Finance, Politics, and Imperialism: Australia, Canada, and the City of London, c.1896–1914
“This is a colourful account of how, from the mid-1920s, the Western world embraced the consumer society and how three settler colonies of the British Empire marketed their goods in the ‘Home’ country. While [the book’s] academic framework is an essential part of scholarship today, the rich detail and anecdotes from the past are a valuable contribution to wider knowledge of how New Zealand earned a living from exporting food.” *National Business Review *
“Barnes takes a welcome alternative approach [and] convincingly argues that the Dominions played a leading role in developing commodity Marketing. Through a series of engaging case studies, Selling Britishness [challenges] the metropolitan focus of much of the literature that has explored the popular culture of imperial trade.” *Journal of British Studies *
“Barnes provides useful insights into how commodities were implanted within the daily lives of British people. [Selling Britishness] is a significant contribution to the history of commodities in the twentieth century [and] contributes to understanding national identity in an era when high imperialism had arguably waned but had by no means completely evaporated.” New Zealand Journal of History
“This is a major addition to the history of interwar British imperial marketing.” British Journal of Canadian Studies
“Selling Britishness explores the advertising campaigns of the three major British Dominions [and] places Dominion commodity marketing as a significant cultural force. Barnes delivers a compelling and enjoyable book.” Journal of Australian, Canadian, and Aotearoa New Zealand Studies
