Description
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThis fascinating study of the US covers 1945 to the present. It will appeal to thoughtful readers; those who most need this information will likely dismiss it as "fake news". * D. R. Jamieson, Ashland University, CHOICE *
Mark H. Lytle's All-Consuming Nation is not a traditional textbook. He frames the past through issues of consumption, capitalism, and the multiple physical environments in which Americans live. Lytle enlivens chronological history with telling anecdotes and revealing data, and his writing is so good that scholars as well as students will be happy. Finally, he provides an outstanding explanation of contemporary American social and economic stratification. * Raymond Haberski Jr, Professor of History and Director of American Studies and the Institute for American Thought, IUPUI *
As Lytle makes abundantly clear in this imaginative new survey of U.S. history, understanding postwar America requires careful attention to the ways the ethos of consumption became a kind of secular religion over the past 75 years. Lytle has synthesized political, social, cultural, and, above all, environmental history into a provocative and deeply needed framework for both exploring the story of postwar history and understanding the consumerist roots of the climate crisis. * Michael B. Smith, Professor of History and Environmental Studies, Ithaca College *
This fascinating study of the US covers 1945 to the present. It will appeal to thoughtful readers; those who most need this information will likely dismiss it as "fake news." * Choice *
Table of ContentsIntroduction: Cold War, Warm Kitchen, and the Trump Dilemma Part I The Creation of a Consumer Democracy 1. Post War Choices 2. The Birth of a Consumer Democracy 3. Chapter Three: The Dark Side of Consumption 4. The Era of Populuxe Part II The Era of Identity Consumerism 5. Segmented America and the New Identity Politics 6. The American Way of Life Polluted 7. The Golden Age of Consumption 8. Vietnam: Consumers Go to War 9. The Consumer Movement 10. Identity Consumerism Part III The Age of Limits, The Age of Fractures 11. America Goes Green 12. The Age of Limits 13. The Environmental Battleground 14. In Debt We Trust 15. Fractured Science: The Battles Over Sustainability and Climate Change Part IV E-Commerce in the Age of Global Warming 16. High Tech Consumers 17. The All-Consuming Nation Imperiled Epilogue: Omens Notes Bibliography Index
