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Empire of Things
Empire of Things: How We Became a World of Consumers, from the Fifteenth Century to the Twenty-First | Frank Trentmann
3 posts | 3 read | 9 to read
What we consume has become a central—perhaps the 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 transformed private and public life. The nineteenth and twentieth centuries 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 future, Frank 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 many years in the making, 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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review
StaceGhost
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Pickpick

I'm so excited to finally finish this behemoth! Four hours into the readathon, not counting lunch, I've managed 400+ pages. Looking back, I wish I could take a week and read it again from cover to cover! Not only was this excellent because of the global context and far-reaching historical perspective, but also because everything it covered is completely applicable to the way we live and consume today. Totally life-changing📚 #24in48 @Litsy @24in48

10 likes2 stack adds
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StaceGhost
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Spending my sick day getting through this leviathan. A little more than halfway done but, considering my usual rate of reading, I'm having a hard time not thinking of myself as a failure. 🤓

MrBook Sorry to hear you're ill. Love the picture though! 8y
7 likes1 comment
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StaceGhost
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Silly human, why are you reading about stuff when I'm awaiting your affection? So what if it's a "really interesting concept" and the "breadth of the research provides a holistic depiction of the context of consumerism throughout history"? I'm just going to sit here until you come to your senses.