ENGLISH

American Commodities in an Age of Empire

By Mona Domosh

Book information

Publisher
Routledge
Year
2006
ISBN
0415945720, 9780415945721, 9780203954850
LCC
HF1455 .D66 2006
Open Library ID
OL20907617M
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
9 MB (9808606 bytes)
Edition
New Ed
Pages
208\216
Topic
History
Time added
2011-04-11 19:55:47

Description

This is a novel interpretation of the relationship between consumerism, commercialism, and imperialism during the first empire building era of America in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Unlike other empires in history, which were typically built on military power, the first American empire was primarily a commercial one, dedicated to pushing products overseas and dominating foreign markets. While the American government was important, it was the great capitalist firms of America – Heinz, Singer, McCormick, Kodak, Standard Oil – that drove the imperial process, explicitly linking the purchase of consumer goods overseas with 'civilization'. Their persistent message to America's prospective customers was, 'buy American products and join the march of progress'. Domosh also explores how the images of peoples overseas conveyed through goods elevated America's sense of itself in the world.

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