consumer culture — Bunk History

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Girl holding a pile of Cabbage Patch Kids dolls

The Droll Capitalist Parable of Cabbage Patch Kids

A new documentary, “Billion Dollar Babies,” shows how a product of Appalachian folk art drew the blueprint for all holiday toy crazes to come.

by Jessica Winter via The New Yorker on November 20, 2023

A man wearing a cowboy outfit shoots at a series of targets in a sand pit

Home on the (Firing) Range: Gunfight Reenactments, “Old West” Competitive Shooting, and the Myth of Authenticity

Reenactments of the frontier west, complete with cowboy shootouts on main streets, reproduce a narrative of history that is widely accepted by millions.

by Jennifer Tucker via The Panorama on November 15, 2023

A warehouse of canned salmon

How Canned Food Went From Military Rations to Fancy Appetizers

This simple technology changed the world.

by Anne Ewbank via Atlas Obscura on November 13, 2023

Hand holding a gun painted like the American flag.

The Real Origins of America’s Gun Culture

“Gun Country” chronicles the transformation of guns from tangible weapons to ideological ammunition during the Cold War.

by Becca Rothfeld via Washington Post on November 9, 2023

A crowd of tourist superimposed over images of Salem attractions and a cemetery.

Salem’s Unholy Bargain: How Tragedy Became an Attraction

Is the cost worth the payoff?

by Lex Pryor via The Ringer on October 30, 2023

Kroger plastic bag.

How to Read a Plastic Bag

The history of a familiar, useful, and troublesome object.

by Roger Turner via Science History Institute on October 30, 2023

Collage of Ebony cover, makeup ad, and card catalogue.

Rebrand

"Ebony" strives to become a one-stop shop.

by Mary Retta via Columbia Journalism Review on October 16, 2023

"Addicted to Cool" spelled out with air conditioning units and ducts.

Addicted to Cool

How the dream of air conditioning turned into the dark future of climate change.

by Philip Kennicott via Washington Post on September 21, 2023

Collage of people in "preppy" clothing.

We’re All Preppy Now

How a style steeped in American elitism took over the world.

by Natalia Mehlman Petrzela via The New Republic on August 14, 2023

Mascot character that is half lemon half lime, holding a can of Sprite.

All Soda Is Lemon-Lime Soda

It’s not a flavor; it’s a vibe.

by Ian Bogost via The Atlantic on July 28, 2023

Cover of "Driving Force" book featuring a traffic cop directing automobiles.

L.A. and the Birth of Car Culture

On Darryl Holter and Stephen Gee’s “Driving Force: Automobiles and the New American City, 1900–1930.”

by Gary Cross via Los Angeles Review of Books on July 15, 2023

Collage of a shirtless performer and a cutaway image of an egg.

My Generation

Anthem for a forgotten cohort.

by Justin E. H. Smith via Harper’s on June 9, 2023

Steve Jobs with Apple II computer.

The Birth of the Personal Computer

A new history of the Apple II charts how computers became unavoidable fixtures of our daily lives.

by Kyle Chayka via The New Yorker on May 18, 2023

Car interior with Chuck Berry reflected in side view mirror.

An Anthropologist of Filth

On Chuck Berry.

by Ian Penman via Harper’s on May 4, 2023

A pale woman tanning in a beach chair with a towel and sunglasses covering her face.

The Meaning of Tanning

The popularity of tanning rose in the early twentieth century, when bronzed skin signaled a life of leisure, not labor.

by Katrina Gulliver, Phillip Vannini, Aaron M. McCright via JSTOR Daily on April 27, 2023

Image of an AR-15

The Gun that Divides a Nation

The AR-15 thrives in times of tension and tragedy. This is how it came to dominate the marketplace – and loom so large in the American psyche.

by Alex Horton, Josh Dawsey, Todd C. Frankel, Shawn Boburg, Ashley Park via Washington Post on March 27, 2023

Man under the starry sky.

Thoreau and the Business of Distraction

Thoreau-themed goods, designed for mindfulness, are the marketplace’s remedies for a problem which, according to Thoreau, was created by the marketplace itself.

by Caleb Smith via Princeton University Press on February 4, 2023

Helen Hall (R, front), chair of the Consumers’ National Federation, with a committee at the White House making demands for a "new deal" for consumers, 1938.

“Ethical Consumption” Used to Mean Something More Than Feeling Smug About Your Purchases

A century ago, it was once motivated by the goal of economic reorganization.

by Nick French via Jacobin on January 31, 2023

Celery.

The Secret History of Celery

How the crunchy stalks went from Victorian centerpiece to ubiquitous football snack.

by Robert F. Moss via Epicurious on December 22, 2022

Collage of meat products emerging from Pat Buchanan's head.

How Food Became a Weapon in The Right’s Culture Wars

First came the politics of right-wing grievance. Then came the new foodie culture. Together, they combined to create one toxic food fight.

by Brent Cunningham via The Nation on December 12, 2022

Lydia Maria Child Taught Americans to Make Do With Less

A popular writer’s 1829 self-help book ‘The Frugal Housewife’ was based on the same democratic principles that made her a champion of the abolitionist cause.

by Lydia Moland via The Wall Street Journal on November 10, 2022

Just Beans

What was ethical consumption under capitalism?

by Malcolm Harris via The Drift on October 20, 2022

Baby in an old wicker stroller.

The Imperative to Buy the Best Stroller

The baby stroller is only the most visible symbol of the ethos of consumer capitalism that saturates American pregnancy and parenthood.

by Amanda Parrish Morgan, Samuel J. Sewell, Janelle S. Taylor via JSTOR Daily on October 17, 2022

Man carrying bundle of sugarcane over his head walking on plank in Guyana sugarcane fields

The Capitalist Transformations of the Countryside

Centuries of capitalism saw the global countryside ruthlessly converted into cheap commodities. But at what cost?

by Sven Beckert via Aeon on October 6, 2022

Student loan debt activists rally outside the White House a day after President Biden announced a plan that would cancel $10,000 in student loan debt for those making less than $125,000 a year in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 25, 2022.

The 50-Year Path That Left Millions Drowning in Student Loan Debt

How new student loan programs turned students into consumers — and ignited a competition among universities that left them drowning in debt.

by John R. Thelin via Made By History on September 13, 2022

Illustration of a coal stove with the roof of a house, as if the whole house is a furnace.

When Coal First Arrived, Americans Said 'No Thanks'

Back in the 19th century, coal was the nation's newfangled fuel source—and it faced the same resistance as wind and solar today.

by Clive Thompson via Smithsonian Magazine on July 5, 2022

Illustration with a 1950 Raleigh bicycle

Cycles of History: On Jody Rosen’s “Two Wheels Good”

A review of how author Jody Rosen depicts the history of the bicycle, mixing the personal with the factual.

by Jonathan Liebson via Los Angeles Review of Books on June 26, 2022

Black and white photo of Elvis Presley in a recording studio.

Was There Anything Real About Elvis Presley?

Presley never wrote a memoir. Nor did he keep a diary. His music could have been a window into his inner life, but he didn’t even write his songs.

by Michael T. Bertrand via The Conversation on June 22, 2022

Picture of a man mopping a gas station bathroom floor.

Believe It or Not, Gas Station Bathrooms Used to Be Squeaky Clean. Here's What Changed.

Spotless bathrooms used to be a crucial selling point for gas stations.

by Nathaniel Meyersohn via CNN on June 4, 2022

Sheet music cover for "My Old Kentucky Home."

Emily Bingham on the Material Culture of White America’s Song to Itself: “My Old Kentucky Home”

A haunting exploration of “My Old Kentucky Home” reveals how a minstrel song rooted in slavery became a nostalgic American icon embedded in consumer culture.

by Emily Bingham via Literary Hub on May 16, 2022

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