Description
Book SynopsisFrom 1840 to 1900, midwestern Americans experienced firsthand the profound economic, cultural, and structural changes that transformed the nation from a premodern, agrarian state to one that was urban, industrial, and economically interdependent. Midwestern commercial farmers found themselves at the heart of these changes.
Trade ReviewBlanke reminds readers that the growth of consumer culture in the U.S. was more than a phenomenon of 20th-century urban development. Extensive endnotes and tables...enhance this thoroughly researched book. Of considerable value to scholars interested in the U.S.'s social, cultural, and economic changes.
This is a closely and ingeniously argued book. Blanke breaks new ground by using quantitative analysis of the advertising in late-nineteenth-century markets, and he provides extensive documentation for his narrative. He challenges the interpretations of rural consumerism advanced during this era.
