The Oxford Handbook of the History of Consumption (Oxford Handbooks in History) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0199561214 ISBN 13: 9780199561216

Publisher: OUP Oxford, 2012

Synopsis

The study of the desire, acquisition, use, and disposal of goods and services, consumption, has grown enormously in recent years, and has been the subject of major historiographical debates: did the eighteenth century bring a consumer revolution? Was there a great divergence between East and West? Did the twentieth century see the triumph of global consumerism? Questions of consumption have become defining topics in all branches of history, from gender and labour history to political history and cultural studies.

The Oxford Handbook of the History of Consumption offers a timely overview of how our understanding of consumption in history has changed in the last generation, taking the reader from the ancient period to the twenty-first century. It includes chapters on Asia, Europe, Africa, and North America, brings together new perspectives, highlights cutting-edge areas of research, and offers a guide through the main historiographical developments. Contributions from leading historians examine the spaces of consumption, consumer politics, luxury and waste, nationalism and empire, the body, well-being, youth cultures and fashion.

The Handbook also showcases the different ways in which recent historians have approached the subject, from cultural and economic history, to political history and technology studies, including areas where multidisciplinary approaches have been especially fruitful.

About this title

Review

Constructing a handbook that can do any sort of justice to such a broad spectrum of ideas, practices and debates is a major achievement. Frank Trentmann is thus to be applauded for producing such a wide-ranging and useful book ... offers such an exciting and informative journey through the world of consumption. (Jon Stobart, English Historical Review)

About the Author

Frank Trentmann was educated at Hamburg University, the London School of Economics, and Harvard University. Before joining Birkbeck, he was Assistant Professor at Princeton University. He has also been the director of the Cultures of Consumption research programme, co-funded by the ESRC and the AHRC, Fernand Braudel Senior Fellow at the European University Institute, and a visiting professor at Bielefeld University (Germany) and at the British Academy. His recent publications include Free Trade Nation: Consumption, Civil Society, and Commerce in Modern Britain (Oxford, 2008), which was awarded the Whitfield Prize by the Royal Historical Society.

About this edition

• Publisher: OUP Oxford
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0199561214
• ISBN 13: 9780199561216
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 714
• Editor: Trentmann Frank