Point of Purchase

<p>This accessible, smart, and expansive book on shopping's impact on American life is in part historical, stretching back to the mid-19th century, yet also has a contemporary focus, with material on recent trends in shopping from the internet to Zagat's guides.<br><br>Drawing inspiration from both Pierre Bourdieu's work and Walter Benjamin's seminal essay on the shopping arcades of 19th-century Paris, Zukin explores the forces that have made shopping so central to our lives: the rise of consumer culture, the never-ending quest for better value, and shopping's ability to help us improve our social status and attain new social identities.</p> <p>Prologue: What Shopping Is<br>1. A Brief History of Shopping<br>2. Julia Learns to Shop<br>3. From Woolworth's to Wal-Mart<br>4. "The Perfect Pair of Leather Pants"<br>5. B. Altman, Ralph Lauren, and the Death of the Leisure Class<br>6. Artemio Goes to Tiffany's<br>7. Consumer Guides and the Invention of Lifestyle<br>8. How Brooks Brothers Came to Look Like Banana Republic<br>9. The Zen of Internet Shopping<br>10. Zagats' 'R' Us<br>Epilogue: What Shopping Should Be<br>Acknowledgments<br>Notes</p>