Market Sentiments

Name: Market Sentiments
Price: 65 AUD
Availability: OutOfStock
ISBN: 9781588342904

Middle-Class Market Culture in Nineteenth-Century America

Elizabeth White Nelson

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Paperback

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English

Smithsonian Books
06 July 2010

History of the Americas; Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900; Economic history

While women supposedly worked in-and-around the household, and men focused on business, Market Sentiments argues that the market is closely intertwined for both men and women.

In this brilliant study, Elizabeth White Nelson challenges a central tenet of 19th-century American history- namely, that men and women lived in separate spheres. Women, supposedly, lived lives focused around hearth and home; men focused on trade and commerce. Market Sentiments turns this theory on its head, arguing that the market and parlor sentimentality were closely intertwined for both men and women.

Scholars have long seen 19th-century sentimentalism as a reaction to the rapid expansion of the marketplace, which some feared would threaten their traditional values of thrift, independence, and equality of economic opportunity. But Nelson demonstrates that the rise of sentimentalism and the marketplace were fundamentally linked and, indeed, fueled each other. The invention of Valentine's Day (called ""this important Business of Love"" by one 19th-century observer) during this era was a prime example of how emotional rhetoric could be economically pragmatic. Not only did people purchase sentimental objects for their parlors-brass candlesticks as spin-off products from Uncle Tom's Cabin, for instance-but they also used sentimental language to explain the profound changes in American culture.

Through her voluminous and ingenious use of sources such as literary bestsellers, fashion magazines, hair jewelry, and the decoration of Victorian parlors, Elizabeth White Nelson shows that, for 19th-century Americans, hearth, home, and the pursuit of cash came together in one big sentimental enterprise.

By: Elizabeth White Nelson
Imprint: Smithsonian Books
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 19mm
Weight: 428g
ISBN: 9781588342904
ISBN 10: 1588342905
Pages: 304
Publication Date: 06 July 2010
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Elizabeth White Nelson lives in Las Vegas with her husband and three children and teaches American history at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She was previously a Fellow at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.

Reviews for Market Sentiments: Middle-Class Market Culture in Nineteenth-Century America

“[A] wonderful book, imaginatively researched and beautifully written.”—Ann Fabian, professor of American studies and history at Rutgers University “Market Sentiments is a pleasure and a profit to read. Nelson connects marginalized and trivialized products—like hair creations and charity fairs—with the most profound concerns of American culture. With a sharp eye for irony, a sophisticated theory of gender, and an impressive amount of research, Nelson opens up a new window on mid-nineteenth-century middle-class material and ideological practices.”—Laura Wexler, professor of American studies at Yale University and author of Tender Violence: Domestic Visions in an Age of U.S. Imperialism