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Empire of Things: How We Became a World of Consumers, from the Fifteenth Century to the Twenty-First
Frank Trentmann
€ 24.99
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Description for Empire of Things: How We Became a World of Consumers, from the Fifteenth Century to the Twenty-First
Paperback. .
'Magnificent ... groundbreaking ... a triumph' Peter Frankopan, author of The Silk Roads 'A masterpiece, a delight to read ... a rare and beautiful thing' Gerard DeGroot, The Times What we consume has become the defining feature of our lives: our economies live or die by spending, we are treated more as consumers than workers, and even public services are presented to us as products in a supermarket. In this monumental study, acclaimed historian Frank Trentmann unfolds the extraordinary history that has shaped our material world, from late Ming China, Renaissance Italy and the British empire to the present. Astonishingly wide-ranging and richly detailed, Empire of Things explores how we have come to live with so much more, how this changed the course of history, and the global challenges we face as a result. 'I read Empire Of Things with unflagging fascination ... elegant, adventurous and colourful ... gleefully provocative' John Preston, Daily Mail 'Such a pleasure to read ... From Victorian department stores to modernist kitchens, his book revels in the things that most historians tend to overlook' Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times
Product Details
Publisher
Penguin
Format
Paperback
Publication date
2017
Condition
New
Number of Pages
880
Place of Publication
London, United Kingdom
ISBN
9780141028743
SKU
V9780141028743
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 5 to 9 working days
Ref
99-99
About Frank Trentmann
Frank Trentmann is Professor of History at Birkbeck College, University of London, and directed the GBP5 million Cultures of Consumption research programme. His last book, Free Trade Nation, won the Whitfield Prize for outstanding historical scholarship and achievement from the Royal Historical Society. He was educated at Hamburg University, the LSE and at Harvard, where he received his PhD. In 2014 he was Moore Distinguished Fellow at Caltech.
Reviews for Empire of Things: How We Became a World of Consumers, from the Fifteenth Century to the Twenty-First
Jam-packed with telling facts and counterintuitive provocations ... Empire of Things is that rare tour d'horizon that expands your sense of what should count as the subject ... A bracing argument
New York Review of Books
[Empire of Things] is wider in scope geographically, historically and socially than anything preceding it ... The epilogue to this story of consumption is salutary: history is essential to our understanding of the continuing rise in material consumption far beyond a sustainable level
Ethical Consumer
A monumental book on a monumental subject ... Rich and illuminating ... No-one who reads it will think about consumer society in the same way
Revista de Libros
Laden with fascinating insights and accounts, the result no doubt of extensive research, this study spans not only six centuries and numerous civilisations, cultures and individuals but also finds time to comment on the beginnings, direction and outcomes of consumerism itself. This is a hugely impressive undertaking and an ambitious narrative
James Sheridan
Irish Times
I read Empire Of Things with unflagging fascination ... [Trentmann] is not only an elegant, adventurous and colourful writer, he also manages the tricky balancing act of being eminently sensible and gleefully provocative
John Preston
Daily Mail
A history not merely of consumption (and attitudes toward consumption) but also of the very idea of goods as a thing to be produced and consumed. Every page fascinates
Stephen L. Carter, 'Great History Books of 2016'
Bloomberg
You can't not learn something new here ... [An] epic tale
Marcus Tanner
Independent
Utterly fascinating ... What makes Trentmann's book such a pleasure to read is not just the wealth of detail or the staggering international range, but the refreshing absence of moaning or moralising about our supposed addiction to owning more stuff
Dominic Sandbrook
Sunday Times
New York Review of Books
[Empire of Things] is wider in scope geographically, historically and socially than anything preceding it ... The epilogue to this story of consumption is salutary: history is essential to our understanding of the continuing rise in material consumption far beyond a sustainable level
Ethical Consumer
A monumental book on a monumental subject ... Rich and illuminating ... No-one who reads it will think about consumer society in the same way
Revista de Libros
Laden with fascinating insights and accounts, the result no doubt of extensive research, this study spans not only six centuries and numerous civilisations, cultures and individuals but also finds time to comment on the beginnings, direction and outcomes of consumerism itself. This is a hugely impressive undertaking and an ambitious narrative
James Sheridan
Irish Times
I read Empire Of Things with unflagging fascination ... [Trentmann] is not only an elegant, adventurous and colourful writer, he also manages the tricky balancing act of being eminently sensible and gleefully provocative
John Preston
Daily Mail
A history not merely of consumption (and attitudes toward consumption) but also of the very idea of goods as a thing to be produced and consumed. Every page fascinates
Stephen L. Carter, 'Great History Books of 2016'
Bloomberg
You can't not learn something new here ... [An] epic tale
Marcus Tanner
Independent
Utterly fascinating ... What makes Trentmann's book such a pleasure to read is not just the wealth of detail or the staggering international range, but the refreshing absence of moaning or moralising about our supposed addiction to owning more stuff
Dominic Sandbrook
Sunday Times