Empire of Things: How We Became a World of Consumers, from the Fifteenth Century to the Twenty-First

Description

The epic history of consumption, and the goods that have transformed our lives over the past 600 years In this monumental study, acclaimed historian Frank Trentmann unfolds the extraordinary history that has shaped our material world, from late Ming China, Renaissance Italy and the British Empire to the present. Astonishingly wide-ranging and richly detailed, Empire of Things explores how we have come to live with so much more, how this changed the course of history, and the global challenges we face as a result.

Frank Trentmann is Professor of History at Birkbeck, University of London, and also a Professor of the History of Morality at the University of Helsinki. Previously, he was Assistant Professor at Princeton University and was the director of the e5 million Cultures of Consumption research program. He is the author of Empire of Things and Free Trade Nation. He has been awarded the Whitfield Prize, a Moore Distinguished Fellowship at Caltech, the Austrian Science Book Prize, and the Humboldt Prize for Research by the Alexander-von-Humboldt Foundation. He was educated at Hamburg University, the London School of Economics, and Harvard University. He lives in London.

a monumental work that deserves a wide audience. It is both a highly engaging global history of consumer culture and a masterful synthesis of a vast body of literature ... There are few truly global histories of consumer culture, and no study is as meticulous or comprehensive. ... In sum, Frank Trentmann's Empire of Things is a masterpiece of historical analysis that offers a wealth of insights into material desire, changing social norms, state policies, transnational connectivity, and other themes in the history of consumption. Indeed, Empire of Things is a field-defining work that will surely be the standard by which global histories of consumption are measured. -- Professor Jeremy Prestholdt * American Historical Review * Utterly fascinating ... What makes Trentmann's book such a pleasure to read is not just the wealth of detail or the staggering international range, but the refreshing absence of moaning or moralising about our supposed addiction to owning more stuff -- Dominic Sandbrook * Sunday Times * You can't not learn something new here ... [An] epic tale -- Marcus Tanner * Independent * A history not merely of consumption (and attitudes toward consumption) but also of the very idea of goods as a thing to be produced and consumed. Every page fascinates -- Stephen L. Carter, 'Great History Books of 2016' * Bloomberg * I read Empire Of Things with unflagging fascination ... [Trentmann] is not only an elegant, adventurous and colourful writer, he also manages the tricky balancing act of being eminently sensible and gleefully provocative -- John Preston * Daily Mail * Laden with fascinating insights and accounts, the result no doubt of extensive research, this study spans not only six centuries and numerous civilisations, cultures and individuals but also finds time to comment on the beginnings, direction and outcomes of consumerism itself. This is a hugely impressive undertaking and an ambitious narrative -- James Sheridan * Irish Times * A monumental book on a monumental subject ... Rich and illuminating ... No-one who reads it will think about consumer society in the same way * Revista de Libros * [Empire of Things] is wider in scope geographically, historically and socially than anything preceding it ... The epilogue to this story of consumption is salutary: history is essential to our understanding of the continuing rise in material consumption far beyond a sustainable level * Ethical Consumer * Jam-packed with telling facts and counterintuitive provocations ... Empire of Things is that rare tour d'horizon that expands your sense of what should count as the subject ... A bracing argument * New York Review of Books *