EAN: 9780062456342

EMPIRE OF THINGS - FRANK TRENTMANN KARTONIERT (TB)

What we consume has become a central feature of modern life. Our economies live or die by
spending  we increasingly define ourselves by our possessions  and this ever-richer lifestyle
has had an extraordinary impact on our planet. How have we come to live with so much stuff  and
how has this changed the course of history? In Empire of Things  Frank Trentmann unfolds the
extraordinary story of our modern material world  from Renaissance Italy and late Ming China to
today's global economy. While consumption is often portrayed as a recent American export  this
monumental and richly detailed account shows that it is in fact a truly international
phenomenon with a much longer and more diverse history. Trentmann traces the influence of trade
and empire on tastes  as formerly exotic goods like coffee  tobacco  Indian cotton  and Chinese
porcelain conquered the world  and explores the growing demand for home furnishings 
fashionable clothes  and convenience that has transformed private and public life. The
nineteenth and twentieth centuries not only brought department stores  credit cards  and
advertising but also the rise of the ethical shopper  new generational identities  and 
eventually  the resurgence of the Asian consumer. With an eye to the present and the future 
Trentmann provides a long view on the global challenges of our relentless pursuit of more?from
waste and debt to stress and inequality. A masterpiece of research and storytelling  Empire of
Things recounts the epic history of the goods that have seduced  enriched  and unsettled our
lives over the past six hundred years.

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