A Consumers' Republic

In this compelling history, Lizabeth Cohen, a Bancroft Prize winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist, explores how the pursuit of prosperity after World War II shaped America's consumer mentality and everyday life. She examines how mass consumption, originally seen as a vehicle for promoting general welfare, evolved to symbolize patriotism and the American Dream, while enabling citizens to wield purchasing power for political influence and social change. However, this era of unprecedented affluence also laid bare economic inequalities and societal fractures across gender, class, and race, making her examination of the "Consumers' Republic" both bold and essential.