PDF Ebook Financing the American Dream: A Cultural History of Consumer Credit (Princeton Paperbacks)
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Financing the American Dream: A Cultural History of Consumer Credit (Princeton Paperbacks)
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Review
"One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 1999""Americans feel ashamed about so-called consumption debt, writes Mr. Calder in prose that's as clear as a bell, because they're psychologically frozen in a 100-year-old mindset. . . . Mr. Calder's argument is so deliciously seditious that you have to wonder: What's wrong with this picture? . . . Mr. Calder's sections on pawnbrokers, door-to-door peddlers and small lenders are worth the price of admission alone."---Cynthia Crossen, The Wall Street Journal"Contrary to those who piously and ahistorically rail against consumer debt as a modern fall from grace, Calder takes a much more nuanced and interesting view. [He] is to be commended for showing us the other side." (Reason)"In a surprisingly lively book about a potentially dreary subject, Calder argues that debt is as American as apple pie and that consumer borrowing has been an important engine of economic growth."---Charles Stein, The Boston Globe"A broadly researched book on the history of US consumer credit that breaks new ground and revises prevailing views. . . . This finely written volume is a major contribution." (Choice)"Those who complain that the debt represents an abandonment of thrift and a growing lack of willingness to defer gratification are wrong, claims Calder. . . . [He] makes the case that today's 'culture of consumption' arose as much from the availability of credit as from the efforts of advertisers and marketers." (Booklist)"Calder is at his best . . . drawing extensively on anecdotal and literary evidence to create a lively narrative." (Publishers Weekly (starred review))"There was never a golden age when everybody paid cash. . . . Moreover, Calder's research convinced him that, far from creating a nation of hedonistic wastrels, consumer credit's rigorous system of monthly payments imposes a puritanical discipline of hard work and thrift." (The New Yorker)"A colorful narrative style and clear, strong arguments will help readers understand this aspect of American social and economic life." (Library Journal)"Calder's work greatly increases our understanding of the rise of consumer culture in America."---Jonathan Silva, The Historian
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From the Back Cover
"At last--an accessible and scholarly history of the American consumer's best friend and worst enemy."--James Grant, author of Money of the Mind and editor of Grant's Interest Rate Observer"Lendol Calder is the first scholar in the field of modern U.S. social history to describe and analyze the century-long (1820s through 1920s) evolution of the incidence of debt, the availability of credit, and the prevailing attitudes toward both, as keystones to understanding twentieth-century changes in U.S. consumer cultureÖ. The quality of writing in the book is exceptional."--Otis A. Pease, University of Washington"Calder has produced a book that will not only add to what we know about 'consumer culture,' but will also force business historians to rethink the relative importance to the rise of consumerism of management innovations and advertising. Calder shows clearly that there is a third source of consumerism: installment credit."--William R. Childs, Ohio State University
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Product details
Series: Princeton Paperbacks
Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: Princeton University Press (February 11, 2001)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9780691074559
ISBN-13: 978-0691074559
ASIN: 0691074550
Product Dimensions:
6.1 x 1 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review:
4.7 out of 5 stars
8 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#986,102 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
wonderfully written and researched history of personal finance/consumer credit in the U.S. Author does not appear to have any particular political axe to grind.It is amazing to see the history recorded in this book being repeated today. Would highly recommend this book to anyone attempting to make sense of the progressive movement's regulationof consumer financial products.
Good!
Positive experience.
Calder brings up a lot interesting developments surrounding the growth of consumer credit, which can easily draw parallels to cirticisms of modern day institutions such as social networks (we're loosing "real" social contact! Not really, we're just changing how we make it). The price was hefty, however, and it's pretty borning to slug through.
Something there is that does not like a consumer loan. Indeed, for a long time the idea of such credit created a sensation of discomfort, insecurity and even shame. Americans harbored a natural hostility to such practices since they tend to ensnare the buyer into schemes that are onerous. Being in debt had the stigma of indicating a lack of self-restraint and character.This attitude toward debt long dominated. But, beginning in the early twentieth century, popular resistance to consumer credit gradually diminished. Lendol Calder's Financing the American Dream: A Cultural History of Consumer Credit is a fascinating chronicle of how this hostility was overcome. His analysis covering the late-nineteenth century to the Great Depression provides insight into a consumer culture that has led us to the present plight of an economy built upon and sustained by debt.It is a story that is not only about loans but about money, social attitudes and relationships. With the Industrial Revolution, the concept of money itself evolved. The world moved from a more personal relationship-based economy to today's impersonal money economy. Banking shifted from a conservative commercial institution catering to industry to a more consumer-oriented business dedicated to financing the American Dream. Government's role increased as it became involved in expanding and guaranteeing money supply and offering its own credit schemes.While the scenario was complex, there was one simple catalyst that brought about this transformation. This was the development of the installment method of financing. Calder claims that "The installment plan was to consumer credit what the moving assembly line was to the automobile industry. Without it, today's trillion dollar [now $13 trillion] consumer credit industry would be inconceivable."Starting with sewing machines, farm machinery and automobiles, the practice soon embraced almost every line of purchase including clothing. It created the tension of providing instant gratification while imposing severe discipline upon the worker now saddled with regular monthly payments. In this way, consumer debt became a permanent fixture if not an entitlement in American society.If installment buying was the instrument, credit marketing was the process which changed the mentality of thrifty Americans and secured the acceptance of consumer credit. Much more important than engineering a financial infrastructure, it became necessary to "sanitize" the concept of debt itself as a positive value for progress and society.Amply documented in Calder's narrative, credit marketers soon found ways of reassuring the public that consumer debt was positive. The small-loan lenders were no longer "loan sharks" but found new identities as "financial advisors," "financial doctors," or "consumer counselors." Even the installment plan itself underwent a facelift as they came to be called "budget plans," "club plans," `thrift accounts," or "preferred buyer plans." These and other subterfuges gradually turned the tide that paved the way for the credit wave of the future that continues to the present.Lendol Calder's clear and compelling arguments do much to explain how consumer credit became part of American culture. By extrapolating upon his findings, readers can also gain insight as to the present crisis and the future. The present explosive expansion of credit merely intensifies the earlier processes of gratification and obligation. Calder says it can be best "summed up in a single word: more."Today's credit-card economy runs on "more." There are more consumer goods, more credit devices, more profits, easier and longer terms--and more undisciplined consumers. On the surface, the quest for more happiness in consumer paradise seems to be intact although maxed out and overextended.But under the surface, this is anxiety. From the frenetic intemperance by which consumer credit has expanded, there comes a different kind of "more." There is more instability, more stress, more future debt burden--and perhaps more unhappiness. Such sobering perspectives invite reflection on the future of the American dream bought on an installment plan.John Horvat IIAuthor of Return to Order: From a Frenzied Economy to an Organic Christian Society--Where We’ve Been, How We Got Here, and Where We Need to Go
Calder book is an appealing read. I must agree with other reviews that this is usually not a very interesting subject, finance and credit, but Calder presents it in an interesting matter that can be quite witty at times. The reader will see how Victorian money management ideas of the past were largely accepted passively by most but only actually followed by few. Credit has existed since before this countries foundation argues Calder and he details the progression of credit systems to present times.
I used Calder's book in one of my History courses and found it to be thorough, even-handed and timely. Calder's prose style is remarkably engaging; students had no trouble navigating the text and discerning the major points. It's a gripping read, but also tremendously informative as well. If you have time to read only one book on the development of consumerism and consumer values, this is it. In fact, I have read few books that I consider a better "window" on the shaping of modern American culture.
Calder covers what can be a dry subject in an interesting manner. He follows the history of consumer credit from the early 19th century up to the period of the New Deal. The book discusses the evolving attitudes toward credit and debt and the products that eventually revolutionized the system of consumer credit. It is well documented and illustrated. A surprisingly good read for what can be a boring subject.
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