Thrift: The History of an American Cultural Movement - Softcover

Yarrow, Andrew L.

2.57

7 ratings by Goodreads

9781625341327: Thrift: The History of an American Cultural Movement

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1625341326 ISBN 13: 9781625341327

Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press, 2014

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In this lively and engaging book, Andrew L. Yarrow tells the story of a national movement that promoted an amalgam of values and practices ranging from self-control, money management, and efficiency to conservation, generosity, and planning for the future―all under the rubric of "thrift." Emerging in tandem and in tension with the first flowerings of consumer society, the thrift movement flourished during the 1910s and 1920s and then lingered on the outskirts of American culture from the Depression to the prosperous mid-twentieth century.

The movement brought together a diverse array of social actors with widely divergent agendas―the YMCA, the Boy and Girl Scouts, temperance crusaders, and others seeking to strengthen the moral fiber of urban young men and boys in particular, and to damp down the appeal of radicalism. It also attracted credit union and other progressive activists wanting to empower the working class economically, bankers desiring to broaden their customer base, conservationists and efficiency proponents denouncing "waste," and government leaders, school teachers, and economists who believed that encouraging saving was in the economic interests of both individuals and the nation.

A post–World War II culture that centered on spending and pleasure made the early-twentieth-century thrift messages seem outdated. Nonetheless, echoes of thrift can be found in currently popular ideas of "sustainability," "stewardship," and "simplicity" and in efforts to curtail public and private debt.

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About the Author:

Andrew L. Yarrow, a former New York Times reporter, teaches U.S. history at American University, is an affiliate scholar at the Institute for American Values, and author of Measuring America: How Economic Growth Came to Define American Greatness in the Late Twentieth Century (University of Massachusetts Press, 2010) and Forgive Us Our Debts: The Intergenerational Dangers of Fiscal Irresponsibility.

For a podcast about the book, please see http://www.americanvalues.org/search/item.php?id=2741

Review:

"An important and original book. Yarrow does a terrific job of uncovering a wide range of primary sources and putting them together to tell a compelling story that hasn't been told before."―Lawrence B. Glickman, author of Buying Power: A History of Consumer Activism in America

"The ancestor of today's move toward simplicity was a flapper-era effort by those who were less fortunate to move up the ladder by saving. The initiative petered out in the post–World War II consumer frenzy, but in its day it got backing from organizations such as the Boy Scouts, the YMCA, and the temperance movement, all of which saw thrift as a match for their hardy, clean-living ethos."―Library Journal

"Yarrow notes that numerous examples of thrift exist in the 21st century as the shift toward sustainability and stewardship gains momentum. Recommended."―Choice

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