6 Jan
Spree: A Cultural History of Shopping
Spree: A Cultural History of Shopping Review
I picked up Spree; A Cultural History of Shopping thinking it would be a quick and enjoyable read. Enjoyable, yes. Quick, no.
For such a small book (trade paperback, 230 pages including an excellent bibliography and index), Spree is packed with more information about shopping than you would have imagined.
Canadian author Pamela Klaffke examines shopping from a multitude of angles, taking only a few pages at most for each topic. She really knows how to distill information down to the basics, while remaining informative and entertaining. Learn about Muzak, malls, Tupperware, infomercials, pawn shops, mystery shoppers, dysfunctional shopping, mall walking, and more. My favorite chapter is Shopping and the Media, which examines how shopping is portrayed in movies, television (sitcoms and game shows), and music.
The text is interesting enough, but in the wide side margins of many pages are additional tidbits, such as a list of celebrity shoplifters, a list of celebrity cheapskates (Katie Couric!), and the evolution of Buy Nothing Day.
Great to browse through or to read from cover to cover.
Spree: A Cultural History of Shopping Overview
Ten years ago, Faith Popcorn declared “the end of shopping” in her bestselling book The Popcorn Report. But from the looks of things, shopping is as pervasive as ever; we are a culture obsessed and beguiled by the desire for consumer goods.
Journalist and shopping pundit Pamela Klaffke documents the history of shopping, from a time when cattle were currency to the current age of contemporary shopping phenoms like QVC and eBay.
Topics covered include: The history of shopping malls and department stores The evolution of retail design Inventions that made shopping easier: the cash register (1884), the shopping cart (1936), the bar code (1952) Information on the largest fashion retail chain (The Gap, 3,676 stores), the largest retail firm (Wal-Mart, with annual revenues of 1 billion) and the worlds largest mall (West Edmonton Mall, at 121 acres) Shopping meccas and customs from around the world The dark side of shopping: kleptomania, shopping addictions, anti-consumerism The myths of shopping: Men Who Hate Shopping and Women Who Love Shoes.
Full of fun and informative sidebars and photos, Spree demonstrates that how we shop explains a lot about who we are.
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*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Jan 06, 2010 15:10:13
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