Synopses & Reviews
While both the structural chnages in American business and their impact on workers have been explored in depth by historians, the broader impact of business on other cultural forms, and vice versa, is only now beginning to be studied. This anthology contributes to the new scholarship occurring at the intersection of business history and the study of cultural forms, ranging from material to visual culture to literature.
Synopsis
While historians have explored the impact on workers of changes in American business, the broader impact on other cultural forms, and vice versa, has not been widely studied. This anthology contributes to the debate at the intersection of business history and the study of cultural forms, ranging from material to visual culture to literature.
About the Author
Elspeth Brown is Assistant Professor of History and American Studies, Miami University.
Marina Moskowitz teaches in the Department of History and is Director of the Andrew Hook Centre for American Studies, University of Glasgow.
Catherine Gudis is Assistant Professor, University of Oklahoma.
Table of Contents
Introduction---Elspeth H. Brown, Catherine Gudis & Marina Moskowitz *
Part I: Designing Markets * Broadcasting Seeds on the American Landscape--Marina Moskowitz * The Importance of Being True Blue: The Du Pont Company and the Color Revolution--Regina Lee Blaszczyk * The Popular Front and the Corporate Appropriation of Modernism--Shannon Clark * Rationalizing Consumption: Photography and Commercial Illustration, 1913-1919--Elspeth H. Brown * Art and Commerce: The Challenge of Modernist Advertising Photography--Patricia Johnston *
Part II: Business and the Politics of Difference, 1900-1930 * "New York is Not America": Immigrants and Tourists in Post-WWI New York--Angela M. Blake * "The First Thing Every Negro Girl Does:" Black Beauty Culture, Racial Politics and the Construction of Modern Black Womanhood, 1905-1925--Tiffany M. Gill * The Sentimental Work of Play: Manhood and the American Toy Industry, 1900-1930--Woody Register *
Part III: Commerce and the Built Environment, 1900-1940 * The Metropolitan Life Tower: Architecture and Ideology in the Life Insurance Enterprise--Roberta Moudry * Architectures of Seduction: Intimate Apparel Trade Shows and Retail Department Design, 1920-1940--Jill Fields * Advertising and the Architecture of Mobility--Catherine Gudis *
Part IV: Representation and Organizational Culture in Post-WWII United States * Postwar Sign, Symbol, and Symptom:
The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit--Anna Creadick * "Girls in Gray Flannel Suits": Women and Work in Postwar American Culture--Clark Davis *Ayn Rand and the Politics of Property--Andrew Hoberek * Afterword: Advertisements for Ourselves: Being and Time in a Promotional Economy--Jean-Christophe Agnew