LAND OF DESIRE: Merchants, Power, and the Rise of a New American Culture

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0394543505 ISBN 13: 9780394543505

Publisher: Pantheon, 1993

Traces the rise of America's mass-market culture, from its beginnings in the 1890s to its present-day domination of American life. By the author of True Love and Perfect Union. 10,000 first printing. $15,000 ad/promo.

From the Publisher:

"An extraordinary work of history, imaginatively conceived, thoroughly researched and absorbingly written. William Leach allows us to see the production of mass consumer culture and to see it whole, in its richness and its poverty. It is a fascinating and troubling tale, and Leach tells it with exceptional skill and sensitivity." --Jean-Christophe Agnew, Yale University

"A major reinterpretation of our cultural experience, Land of Desire is a brilliant, evocative, and highly readable study by an original, honest and courageous historian who has seen to the heart of American commercial culture. In a society in debt to the licentious 1980s and unfortunately still attempting to achieve social justice though endless growth, this is required reading."--Mary O. Furner, University of California, Santa Barbara

From the Inside Flap:

This monumental work of cultural history was nominated for a National Book Award. It chronicles America's transformation, beginning in 1880, into a nation of consumers, devoted to a cult of comfort, bodily well-being, and endless acquisition. 24 pages of photos.