CONSUMERS’ REPUBLIC, A(ISBN=) 英文原版

　　In this signal work of history, Bancroft Prize winner and
Pulitzer Prize finalist Lizabeth Cohen shows how the pursuit of
prosperity after World War II fueled our pervasive consumer
mentality and transformed American life.
　　Trumpeted as a means to promote the general welfare, mass
consumption quickly outgrew its economic objectives and became
synonymous with patriotism, social equality, and the American
Dream. Material goods came to embody the promise of America, and
the power of consumers to purchase everything from vacuum cleaners
to convertibles gave rise to the power of citizens to purchase
political influence and effect social change. Yet despite
undeniable successes and unprecedented affluence, mass consumption
also fostered economic inequality and the fracturing of society
along gender, class, and racial lines. In charting the complex
legacy of our “Consumers’ Republic” Lizabeth Cohen has written a
bold, encompassing, and profoundly influential book.