Beauty and Business: Commerce, Gender, and Culture in Modern America (Hagley Perspectives on Business and Culture) (Paperback)

by P. Scranton (Author) "At the age of 53, Frances Willard, leader of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, learned to ride a bicycle..." (more)
Key Phrases: pageant supporters, corset fitting, corset saleswomen, Miss Chinatown, United States, San Francisco (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Recommended for business historians and upper-division academic libraries with women's studies programs.." -- Bellinda Wise, Nassau Community Coll. Lib., Garden City, NY

Recommended for business historians and upper-division academic libraries with women's studies programs. -- Bellinda Wise, Nassau Community Coll. Lib., Garden City, NY
Recommended for business historians and upper-division academic libraries with women's studies programs. -- Library Journal
This pioneering collection weaves beauty into a capacious commercial net that stretches from the late 19th to the mid 20th century. Expansive in scope but sharply focused to capture the interplay between beauty and business, the volume casts an illuminating light on the individuals, groups and businesses involved in the transformation of modern cultures of consumption. With this volume, a new business history has arrived. -- Mary A. Yeager, UCLA
Eschewing simplistic narratives of corporate victimization in favor of subtlety and complexity, these essays emphasize the role of consumers and small-scale entrepreneurs -- many of them women -- in shaping America's beauty industry...required reading for anyone interested in the histories of gender, culture, and business. -- Wendy Gambler, author of The Female Economy: The Millinery and Dressmaking Trades
These essays from a conference a the Hagley Museum and Library...attest to the growth of women in business and the welcome incursion of social and gender history into traditional business history...The mix is both interesting and potentially widely useful, not only for the study of business or women in business, but for a variety of other academic pursuits. It is a welcome addition to a growing body of literature. -- Choice

Recommended for business historians and upper-division academic libraries with womens studies programs. -- Bellinda Wise, Nassau Community Coll. Lib., Garden City, NY
Recommended for business historians and upper-division academic libraries with womens studies programs. -- Library Journal
This pioneering collection weaves beauty into a capacious commercial net that stretches from the late 19th to the mid 20th century. Expansive in scope but sharply focused to capture the interplay between beauty and business, the volume casts an illuminating light on the individuals, groups and businesses involved in the transformation of modern cultures of consumption. With this volume, a new business history has arrived. -- Mary A. Yeager, UCLA
Eschewing simplistic narratives of corporate victimization in favor of subtlety and complexity, these essays emphasize the role of consumers and small-scale entrepreneurs -- many of them women -- in shaping Americas beauty industry...required reading for anyone interested in the histories of gender, culture, and business. -- Wendy Gambler, author of The Female Economy: The Millinery and Dressmaking Trades
These essays from a conference a the Hagley Museum and Library...attest to the growth of women in business and the welcome incursion of social and gender history into traditional business history...The mix is both interesting and potentially widely useful, not only for the study of business or women in business, but for a variety of other academic pursuits. It is a welcome addition to a growing body of literature. -- Choice

Product Description
"Until recently, business historians have not yielded to beauty - at least as a subject of scholarly inquiry. But beauty is big business." | o Kathy Peiss, from the Introduction

Beauty seems simple; we know it when we see it. But of course our ideas about what is attractive are influenced by a broad range of social and economic factors, and in Beauty and Business leading historians set out to provide this important cultural context. How have retailers shaped popular consciousness about beauty? And how, in turn, have cultural assumptions influenced the commodification of beauty? The contributors here look to particular examples in order to address these questions, turning their attention to topics ranging from the social role of the African American hair salon, the sexual dynamics of bathing suits and shirtcollars, and the deeper meanings of corsets, to what the Avon lady tells us about changing American values. As a whole, these essays force us to reckon with the ways that beauty has been made, bought, and sold in modern America.

Announcing a New Series

Beauty and Business launches a new series, Hagley Perspectives on Business and Culture, edited by Philip Scranton and Roger Horowitz in conjunction with the prestigious Hagley Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society in Wilmington, Delaware - one of the nation's leading research centers. Forthcoming volumes in the series include Boys and Their Toys: Masculinity, Class, and Technology in America and Food and Culture.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (December 20, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 041592667X
• ISBN-13: 978-0415926676
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
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• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #329,821 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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