Wendy A. Woloson

While the cover might suggest a light read lies in wait, that this is a publication of the University of Chicago tells you that it's really rather dense. It is also a little less coherent than I might have hoped, though perhaps that is a commentary on the material subject. Be that as it may, Woloson does deliver on the topic, though it would be more accurate to say that this is really a collection of parallel histories of various business models; Yankee peddlers, five & ten stores, "giftware," mass-produced collectibles, obnoxious "novelty" items, and so on. What all these things have in common is the ability to appeal for the American taste for novelty and cheapness, sourcing from easily exploited work forces, and the reality that no one needs most of this stuff, though wave after wave of "commemorative" items, unwanted gifts, and impractical kitchen items keep piling up, until they represented actual sources of psychological and physical toxicity. Woloson is alternately amused and horrified by this stuff, and I suspect that you'll be too at the end of this work.… (meer)