Once there was a golden age of American thrift, when citizens lived sensibly within their means and worked hard to stay out of debt. The growing availability of credit in this century, however, has brought those days to an end--undermining traditional moral virtues such as prudence, diligence, and the delay of gratification while encouraging reckless consumerism. Or so we commonly believe. In this engaging and thought-provoking book, Lendol Calder shows that this conception of the past is in fact a myth. Calder presents ...
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Once there was a golden age of American thrift, when citizens lived sensibly within their means and worked hard to stay out of debt. The growing availability of credit in this century, however, has brought those days to an end--undermining traditional moral virtues such as prudence, diligence, and the delay of gratification while encouraging reckless consumerism. Or so we commonly believe. In this engaging and thought-provoking book, Lendol Calder shows that this conception of the past is in fact a myth. Calder presents the first book-length social and cultural history of the rise of consumer credit in America. He focuses on the years between 1890 and 1940, when the legal, institutional, and moral bases of today's consumer credit were established, and in an epilogue takes the story up to the present. He draws on a wide variety of sources--including personal diaries and letters, government and business records, newspapers, advertisements, movies, and the words of such figures as Benjamin Franklin, Mark Twain, and P. T. Barnum--to show that debt has always been with us. He vigorously challenges the idea that consumer credit has eroded traditional values. Instead, he argues, monthly payments have imposed strict, externally reinforced disciplines on consumers, making the culture of consumption less a playground for hedonists than an extension of what Max Weber called the "iron cage" of disciplined rationality and hard work. Throughout, Calder keeps in clear view the human face of credit relations. He re-creates the Dickensian world of nineteenth-century pawnbrokers, takes us into the dingy backstairs offices of loan sharks, into small-town shops and New York department stores, and explains who resorted to which types of credit and why. He also traces the evolving moral status of consumer credit, showing how it changed from a widespread but morally dubious practice into an almost universal and generally accepted practice by World War II. Combining clear, rigorous arguments with a colorful, narrative style, Financing the American Dream will attract a wide range of academic and general readers and change how we understand one of the most important and overlooked aspects of American social and economic life.
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Add this copy of Financing the American Dream: a Cultural History of to cart. $13.99, very good condition, Sold by Half Price Books Inc rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2001 by Princeton University Press.
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Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Add this copy of Financing the American Dream: a Cultural History of to cart. $14.99, very good condition, Sold by Half Price Books Inc rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2001 by Princeton University Press.
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Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Add this copy of Financing the American Dream: a Cultural History of to cart. $17.48, good condition, Sold by Anybook rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Lincoln, UNITED KINGDOM, published 1999 by Princeton University Press.
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This is an ex-library book and may have the usual library/used-book markings inside. This book has soft covers. Clean from markings In good all round condition. Please note the Image in this listing is a stock photo and may not match the covers of the actual item, 650grams, ISBN: 9780691074559.
Add this copy of Financing the American Dream a Cultural History of to cart. $19.60, good condition, Sold by TextbookRush rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Grandview Hts, OH, UNITED STATES, published 2001 by Princeton University Press.
Add this copy of Financing the American Dream; a Cultural History of to cart. $27.00, very good condition, Sold by DogStar Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Lancaster, PA, UNITED STATES, published 1999 by Princeton University Press.
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Very Good+ in Near Fine dust jacket. 069105827X. B & W photos; Large 8vo 9"-10" tall; 400 pages; 1999 Princeton University Press. HC/DJ 1st edition. Snugly bound and neat in crisp edged and uniformly bright color pictorial dust jacket. Boards splay just slightly at front edge. Hint of shelf evidence to jacket edges. VG++/NF.
Add this copy of Financing the American Dream to cart. $32.00, like new condition, Sold by Sequitur Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Boonsboro, MD, UNITED STATES, published 1999 by Princeton University Press.
Add this copy of Financing the American Dream: a Cultural History of to cart. $43.52, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2001 by Princeton University Press.
Add this copy of Financing the American Dream: a Cultural History of to cart. $51.00, like new condition, Sold by JOHN LUTSCHAK BOOKS rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from BURLINGTON, WI, UNITED STATES, published 1999 by PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS.
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FINE IN NEAR FINE DUST JACKET. BOOK IS FINE WITHOUT ANY MARKS TO THE BINDING OR THE TEXT. D.J. IS ABOUT FINE WITH SLIGHT LIFTING OF LAMINATE ALONG BOTTOM EDGE OF REAR PANEL, AND IS NOT PRICE-CLIPPED. A BEAUTIFUL CLEAN, BRIGHT, UNFADED COPY WITH NO REMAINDER MARK.
