Empire of Things: How We Became a World of Consumers, from the Fifteenth Century to the Twenty-First

Consumption is a driving force in the world; the economic engine to capitalism. What if there is more to consumption than economics? What if consumption plays an important role in human behavior by creating identity? Trentmann (history, Birkbeck Coll., Univ. of London; Free Trade Nation) has written one of the most comprehensive historical surveys of the subject. International in outlook, Trentmann takes on the unassailable, describing consumption from the early modern history to the present, compiling an economic and social history of the trade and accumulation of "things." Yet, the author doesn't stop there, as he also examines intellectual attitudes toward consumerism, whether in economic works or philosophy, and investigates issues such as credit, marketing, affluence, leisure versus work, lifespan consumption, and the concept of a disposal society; merging an economic chronicle with cultural and intellectual histories. The work concludes with a consideration of an emerging type of consumption of digital "things."