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Summary:

Review: "At what point did the British develop their mania for interiors, wallpaper, furniture and decoration? Why have the middle classes developed so passionate an attachment to the contents of their homes? This book offers surprising answers to these questions, uncovering the roots of today's consumer society and investigating the forces that shape consumer desires. Richly illustrated, Household Gods chronicles one hundred years of British interiors, focusing on class, choice, shopping and possessions. Exploring a wealth of unusual records and archives, Deborah Cohen locates the source of modern consumerism and materialism in early nineteenth-century religious fervour. Over the course of the Victorian era, consumerism shed the taint of sin to become the pre-eminent means of expressing individuality. The book ranges from musty antique shops to luxurious emporia, from suburban semi-detached houses to elegant city villas, from husbands fretting about mantelpieces to women appropriating home decoration as a feminist cause. It uncovers a society of consumers whose identities have become entwined with the things they put in their houses"--Dust jacket.

Table of Contents:

• The British at home
• Material good : morality and the well-to-do
• Cathedrals to commerce : shoppers and entrepreneurs
• Art at home : how the house became artistic
• In possession : men, women, and decoration
• Home as a stage : personality and possessions
• Designs on the past : antiques as a faith
• Modern living : the triumph of safety first
• Your neighbour's house.

Author/Creator:

Cohen, Deborah, 1968- , author

Languages:

English

Language Notes:

Item content: English

Main Work:

Household gods: the British and their possessions [by Cohen, D.]

Subjects:

Great Britain — Social life and customs — 19th century

Great Britain — Social life and customs — 1918-1945

Decorative arts — Great Britain — History — 19th century

Decorative arts — Great Britain — History — 20th century

Social values — Great Britain

Materialism — Great Britain

Great Britain — Commerce — Social aspects

Retail trade — Great Britain

Commerce — Social aspects

Decorative arts

Manners and customs

Materialism

Retail trade

Social values

Great Britain

1800-1999

Genres:

History

General Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 263-284) and index.

Physical Description:

xvii, 296 pages : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 25 cm

Physical Characteristics:

illustration

Call Numbers:

DA533 .C64 2006

ISBNs:

0300112130 (alk. paper)
9780300112139 (alk. paper)
0300136412 (paperback)
9780300136418 (paperback)

Other Standard Numbers:

International Article Number: 9780300112139

Library of Congress Control Numbers:

2006012782

OCLC Numbers:

67773723