Cultures of Commerce: Representation and American Business Culture, 1877-1960

by E. Brown, C. Gudis, M. Moskowitz

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781403970503
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan US
Publication date:	06/14/2006
Edition description:	2006
Pages:	370
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.04(d)

About the Author

ELSPETH H. BROWN is Professor of History, Miami University, USA.

CATHERINE GUDIS is Assistant Professor, University of Oklahoma, USA.

MARINA MOSKOWITZ teaches in the Department of History and is Director of the Andrew Hook Centre for American Studies, University of Glasgow, UK.

Table of Contents

Introduction; J-C.Agnew PART I: TRANSNATIONAL COMMODITY CULTURE, 1880-1914 Imperialism, Anti-Imperialism, and the Market: The Circulation of American Cigarette Trade Cards in China; N.Enstad Transnational Mannequins: Modeling and Commercial Culture, 1908-1919; E.H.Brown PART II: DESIGNING MARKETS, 1880-1960 Broadcasting Seeds on the American Landscape; M.Moskowitz The Importance of Being Red: The Du Pont Company and the Color Revolution; R.L.Blaszczyk The Popular Front in the United States and the Corporate Appropriation of Modernism; S.Clark 'The Billboard War': Scenic Sisters and the Business of Highway Beautification; C.Gudis PART III: BUSINESS AND THE POLITICS OF DIFFERENCE, 1900-1930 'New York is Not America': Immigrants and Tourists in Post-WWI New York; A.Blake 'Are We Proud of Our Black Skins and Curly Hair?': Black Beauticians and Racial Politics during the Great Migration; T.M.Gill 'Be a Man and a Magician: Marketing Play and Manhood in a Culture of Consumption, 1900-1930; W.Register PART IV: COMMERCE AND THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT, 1900-1940 Architecture, Corporate Ideology, and the Negotiation of Urban Public/Private Space; R.M.Moudry Architectures of Seduction: Intimate Apparel Trade Shows and Retail Department Design, 1920-1940; J.Fields The Emergence of 1930s Strip and the Architecture of National Chains; M.J.Hardwick Animated Show Windows, Commercial Pageantry, and the Business of Display in Interwar America; L.Bird PART V: REPRESENTATION AND ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE IN POST-WWII UNITED STATES Postwar Sign, Symbol, and Symptom: 'The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit'; A.Creadick 'Girls in Gray Flannel Suits': Women and Work in Postwar American Culture; C.Davis Ayn Rand and Intellectual Entrepreneurship; A.Hoberek Afterword: Where Do We Go from Here?