William Leach Land Of Desire Pdf

'By 1929, after almost fifty years of growth and struggle, the modern American capitalist culture of consumption had finally taken root.'The following is a review of William Leach's book Land of Desire, an analysis of American consumer culture.

• William Leach Do
• William Leach Land Of Desire Pdf Free

• Download Land of Desire: Merchants, Power, and the Rise of a New American Culture, by William R. Land Of Desire: Merchants, Power, And The Rise Of A New American Culture, By William R. Satisfied reading! This is what we intend to say to you which enjoy reading so considerably.
• Get this from a library! Land of desire: merchants, power, and the rise of a new American culture. William Leach - Absorbing and incisive, Land of Desire tells the story of a fundamental transformation in the culture and economy of America - the rise of mass-market consumerism and the.
• Land of Desire: Merchants, Power, and the Rise of a New American Culture by William R. Leach 319 ratings, 3.98 average rating, 23 reviews Open Preview See a Problem? We'd love your help.

Land Of Desire Essay Summary 2253 Words 9 Pages. The transformations that America went through in order to become a capitalist country were very significant and are sometimes looked past. However, in the book Land of Desire, the author, William Leach extensively goes into many of those things.

The main point of 'Land of Desire' is to describe the formative years and forces behind the culture of American consumer capitalism, to 'illuminate its power and appeal as well as the tremendous ethical change it brought to America' (p. xiii). William Leach focuses on the creation of this culture, its production 'by commercial groups in cooperation with other elites comfortable with and committed to making profits and to accumulating capital on an ever-ascending scale' (p. xv).

In Part I, Leach describes the commercial strategies designed to entice desire in the customer. He describes the rise of investment banking and giant retail corporations, department stores catering to a rising consuming middle class. He describes forces that led to businessmen's fostering of the public's 'ability to want and choose' (p. 16). New manufacturing technologies and energy sources enabled mass production. Communication and transportation technologies enabled the 'rapid movement of goods and money' (p. 17). The problem of distributing mass produced goods led to new methods of marketing to entice the consumer, including 'advertising, display and decoration, fashion, style, design, and consumer service' (p. 37). Department stores prevailed in the retail wars of the 1890s.

In the early 20^th century, a 'whole new aesthetics of color, glass, and light appeared on the American scene' (p. 38). Leach writes of the co-opting of new visual media including ad pictures, billboards, electrical signs and glass show windows for the movement of goods from retailer to consumer. Businesses targeted consumers through advertising campaigns and generally favored 'eye-appeal' (p. 43) over the copy ad. Retailers hired commercial artists such as Maxfield Parrish to represent goods in widely appealing visual formats, to give goods 'life' and 'meaning' (p. 54). Parrish and other advertisers discovered 'that pictures can attract attention, inspire a measure of loyalty, and excite desire' (p. 54). L. Frank Baum inspired a new display strategy in the glass show window that focused on how goods looked, 'designed to foster year-round consumer desire' (p. 60).

Appeals to Christian ideas, corporate public image problems and merchants' need to move goods contributed to the rise of service in 20^th century America. Consumer service reflected the 'pursuit of individual pleasure, comfort, happiness, and luxury' (p. 122). While serving a corporate image of public goodwill, service was at its core another strategy of enticement, designed 'to awaken individualdesire' (p. 113). Visual display, service, central decorative themes and dramatic atmospheres reflected merchants' efforts to appeal to consumer fantasy and to separate the world of consumption from the world of production. These efforts resulted in separation of the middle-class consumer from the hard-working lower-class production worker.

In Part II, Leach describes the rise of institutional coalitions and the role of these in shaping consumer culture. Art schools and universities began offering education in commercial arts and business administration. Museum owners and directors committed their cultural institutions 'to the emerging prerogatives of consumer capitalism,' (p. 172) seeing images of the past as marketable goods. Government agencies helped commercial markets directly and indirectly, contributing to advertising standards and age segregation of customers. An Industrial Workers of the World pageant marked the collapse of a strike against silk manufacturers as 'the pictured struggle' diverted workers 'from the actual struggle,' (p. 189) in the words of Gurley Flynn.

Leach also explores people's religious responses to the moral challenges of a new commercial society. New ethical compromises integrated consumer pleasure, comfort and acquisition into traditional Christian world-views. Mind-cure, an optimistic spiritual mentality that erased the lines between religion and commerce and embraced the dominant business culture, was a more radical response. It reflected the new 'American conviction that people could shape their own destinies and find total happiness' (p. 227) through desire, consumption and abundance. Mind-cure influenced progressive political economists in 20^th century America, including Simon Patten and his support of corporate capitalism and the 'steady purchase of ‘new' goods' (p. 239). Baum introduced into The Wonderful Wizard of Oz 'a mind-cure vision of America quite at home with commercial development of the country' (p. 250).

In Part III, Leach writes of the rise of 'Consumptionism' in the 1920s. Mass distribution infrastructure, business consolidation, a spread of chain stores and standardized advertising fed a mass 'compulsion to buy what was not wanted' (p. 268). Investment bankers promoted merger activity in the mass consumer sector and secured the capital required for this activity. Bankers 'saw in the expansion of what the banker Paul Mazur called ‘the machine of desire' one of the keys to continual economic growth and profits' (p. 276). Mergers and bigger capital investment demanded 'a new managerial angle to enticement' (p. 298) embodied in the idea of selling consumers their dreams. Consumer credit institutions, specialists in modern display strategies that targeted goods, fashion consulting agencies and public relations managers contributed to a new managerialism in mass consumer business.

After 1920, the federal government and large financial intermediaries helped form a new American mass consumer economy and culture. Leach shows how the U.S. Commerce Department under Herbert Hoover provided businesses with technical information and a public more capable and amenable to mass consumption of goods. Consumer capitalism influenced American culture throughout the 20^th century, with non-commercial institutions and federal government continuing to support corporate power over consumption and consumer desire. However, Leach writes, insecurity and a declining standard of living in America may usher in a new era of increased consumer responsibility and 'refusal to accept having and taking as the key to being or the equivalent of being' (p. 390).

This post is derived from an original class paper by Paige Brown for the LSU Manship School.

Download Land of Desire: Merchants, Power, and the Rise of a New American Culture, by William R. Leach

Land Of Desire: Merchants, Power, And The Rise Of A New American Culture, By William R. Leach. Satisfied reading! This is what we intend to say to you which enjoy reading so considerably. What concerning you that assert that reading are only responsibility? Don't bother, reading behavior ought to be started from some particular reasons. One of them is checking out by obligation. As exactly what we wish to supply here, the publication entitled Land Of Desire: Merchants, Power, And The Rise Of A New American Culture, By William R. Leach is not kind of required book. You can enjoy this book Land Of Desire: Merchants, Power, And The Rise Of A New American Culture, By William R. Leach to review.

Land of Desire: Merchants, Power, and the Rise of a New American Culture, by William R. Leach

Download Land of Desire: Merchants, Power, and the Rise of a New American Culture, by William R. Leach

Why must choose the hassle one if there is very easy? Obtain the profit by acquiring guide Land Of Desire: Merchants, Power, And The Rise Of A New American Culture, By William R. Leach here. You will certainly obtain different method to make a deal as well as get the book Land Of Desire: Merchants, Power, And The Rise Of A New American Culture, By William R. Leach As understood, nowadays. Soft data of guides Land Of Desire: Merchants, Power, And The Rise Of A New American Culture, By William R. Leach become preferred amongst the readers. Are you among them? As well as right here, we are providing you the brand-new collection of ours, the Land Of Desire: Merchants, Power, And The Rise Of A New American Culture, By William R. Leach.

If you ally need such a referred Land Of Desire: Merchants, Power, And The Rise Of A New American Culture, By William R. Leach book that will certainly offer you value, get the most effective seller from us currently from several preferred publishers. If you want to enjoyable publications, numerous books, tale, jokes, and also more fictions compilations are also released, from best seller to the most current launched. You could not be confused to take pleasure in all book collections Land Of Desire: Merchants, Power, And The Rise Of A New American Culture, By William R. Leach that we will certainly provide. It is not about the rates. It has to do with what you need now. This Land Of Desire: Merchants, Power, And The Rise Of A New American Culture, By William R. Leach, as one of the very best sellers below will certainly be one of the ideal selections to check out.

Finding the right Land Of Desire: Merchants, Power, And The Rise Of A New American Culture, By William R. Leach book as the best necessity is kind of lucks to have. To begin your day or to finish your day during the night, this Land Of Desire: Merchants, Power, And The Rise Of A New American Culture, By William R. Leach will be proper enough. You can simply search for the floor tile here and you will certainly obtain the book Land Of Desire: Merchants, Power, And The Rise Of A New American Culture, By William R. Leach referred. It will not bother you to reduce your useful time to go for buying book in store. This way, you will certainly also invest money to pay for transportation as well as other time spent.

By downloading and install the on-line Land Of Desire: Merchants, Power, And The Rise Of A New American Culture, By William R. Leach publication right here, you will certainly obtain some benefits not to go for the book shop. Just hook up to the internet and also begin to download the web page link we share. Now, your Land Of Desire: Merchants, Power, And The Rise Of A New American Culture, By William R. Leach is ready to delight in reading. This is your time and your calmness to acquire all that you desire from this book Land Of Desire: Merchants, Power, And The Rise Of A New American Culture, By William R. Leach

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.

• Sales Rank: #311110 in Books
• Published on: 1994-09-06
• Released on: 1994-09-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 8.00' h x 1.15' w x 5.15' l, 1.15 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 560 pages

From Publishers Weekly
This NBA nominee is an outstanding cultural history of America's turn-of-the-century transformation into a nation of consumers.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
In an alternate history of modern American life from 1890 to 1927, Leach (History/Columbia; True Love and Perfect Union, 1980) offers an encompassing, learned, and fast-paced account of how entrepreneurs, manufacturers, bankers, clergymen, and government leaders produced a culture of consumers--as well as the rituals, morality, aesthetics, and institutions that identify the good with the goodies, acquisition with virtue. Innovative merchandising--initiated by the great department stores of the 1890's (Wanamaker's, Marshall Field, etc.) and extending in time to hotels, banks, public utilities, service industries, etc.--began with an excess of production: superfluous pianos, lamps, rugs, cheap jewelry, and food. To dispense with the surplus, merchant princes developed a technology of enticement, the arts of display--including posters, outdoor signs, light, color, glass, window trimming, packaging, catalogues, architecture, and, ultimately, an urban geography with entire shopping districts (epitomized in Manhattan in the showmanship of Times Square, the retail establishments of Fifth Avenue, the fashion and garment districts, and on Wall Street, the source of the financing). Beyond the visual were the rituals--holiday seasons, pageants, parades, children's culture--and the escalators and credit-granting through which department stores became democratized. Americans' getting and spending produced a standardization of taste and beauty, as well as colleges for business and design, fashion magazines, hotel chains, and intermediaries--brokers and agencies for everything from models to real estate. In 1932, Herbert Hoover's Department of Commerce and its imposing building in Washington made merchandising part of government--incarnating, as Leach sees it, the ethics and fantasies embodied in the Emerald City of The Wizard of Oz (L. Frank Baum also wrote the definitive text on window trimming). Fascinating, detailed, and evangelical: a yellow brick road full of rare adventures, intriguing characters, and surprising vistas. (Twenty-four pages of photos--not seen) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Review
'An extraordinary work of history, imaginatively conceived, thoroughly researched and absorbingly written. Bleach blade battlers 2 rom. 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

Most helpful customer reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful.
A Great Book
By Alden Jenks
I don't think I've read a better non-fiction work. The prodigious research is presented in a continuously diverting way. The evolution of Salesmanship in its many forms is explored in colorful depth: floor design, window design (Who knew that until the 1930s 'all the show windows at Marshall Field's were covered on Sundays out of respect' for the founder's religiosity?), classified ads, mail-order catalogues. The paradigmatic figure of John Wanamaker is presented vividly and multi-dimensionally; anecdotal details along the way illuminate a whole period of American history I'd paid only scant attention to before. Thank you Mr. Leach, you've started a whole new reading list for me! In fact, my only criticism of the book is the lack of a bibliography. There are book (and journal and letter and interview) references among the copious footnotes, but no single list. The research Mr. Leach did is obviously staggering. How many of us have read 'The Dry Goods Economist' or 'The Show Window' - the latter founded and edited by L. Frank Baum -? This is a work animated by both a dedication to the highest principles of scholarship, and a passion for the subject that is (in my case at least) contagious.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful.
interesting
By Rosa M. Giorgio
I found Leach's book very insightful and interesting. He thoroughly dissects and explains the history and creation of consumer culture in the U. S. during the 1880s-1920s. Every avenue involved in consumer culture is discussed in this easy to read text.

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
Mindblowingly Brilliant!!!
By Clear Englebert
I've rarely read a book that was so fabulous from beginning to end. I thought the very last section was going to bog down, but it never did. WHAT GREAT WRITING!

William Leach Do

William Leach Land Of Desire Pdf Free

Land of Desire: Merchants, Power, and the Rise of a New American Culture, by William R. Leach PDF
Land of Desire: Merchants, Power, and the Rise of a New American Culture, by William R. Leach EPub
Land of Desire: Merchants, Power, and the Rise of a New American Culture, by William R. Leach Doc
Land of Desire: Merchants, Power, and the Rise of a New American Culture, by William R. Leach iBooks
Land of Desire: Merchants, Power, and the Rise of a New American Culture, by William R. Leach rtf
Land of Desire: Merchants, Power, and the Rise of a New American Culture, by William R. Leach Mobipocket
Land of Desire: Merchants, Power, and the Rise of a New American Culture, by William R. Leach Kindle

[E177.Ebook] Download Land of Desire: Merchants, Power, and the Rise of a New American Culture, by William R. Leach Doc

[E177.Ebook] Download Land of Desire: Merchants, Power, and the Rise of a New American Culture, by William R. Leach Doc