While both the structural changes in American business and their impact on workers have been explored in depth by historians, the broader impact of business on other cultural forms, and vice versa, is only now beginning to be studied. This anthology contributes to the new scholarship occurring at the intersection of business history and the study of cultural forms, ranging from material to visual culture to literature.
Introduction; J-C.Agnew
PART I: TRANSNATIONAL COMMODITY CULTURE, 1880-1914
Imperialism, Anti-Imperialism, and the Market: The Circulation of American Cigarette Trade Cards in China; N.Enstad
Transnational Mannequins: Modeling and Commercial Culture, 1908-1919; E.H.Brown
PART II: DESIGNING MARKETS, 1880-1960
Broadcasting Seeds on the American Landscape; M.Moskowitz
The Importance of Being Red: The Du Pont Company and the Color Revolution; R.L.Blaszczyk
The Popular Front in the United States and the Corporate Appropriation of Modernism; S.Clark
'The Billboard War': Scenic Sisters and the Business of Highway Beautification; C.Gudis
PART III: BUSINESS AND THE POLITICS OF DIFFERENCE, 1900-1930
'New York is Not America': Immigrants and Tourists in Post-WWI New York; A.Blake
'Are We Proud of Our Black Skins and Curly Hair?': Black Beauticians and Racial Politics during the Great Migration; T.M.Gill
'Be a Man and a Magician: Marketing Play and Manhood in a Culture of Consumption, 1900-1930; W.Register
PART IV: COMMERCE AND THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT, 1900-1940
Architecture, Corporate Ideology, and the Negotiation of Urban Public/Private Space; R.M.Moudry
Architectures of Seduction: Intimate Apparel Trade Shows and Retail Department Design, 1920-1940; J.Fields
The Emergence of 1930s Strip and the Architecture of National Chains; M.J.Hardwick
Animated Show Windows, Commercial Pageantry, and the Business of Display in Interwar America; L.Bird
PART V: REPRESENTATION AND ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE IN POST-WWII UNITED STATES
Postwar Sign, Symbol, and Symptom: 'The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit'; A.Creadick
'Girls in Gray Flannel Suits': Women and Work in Postwar American Culture; C.Davis
Ayn Rand and Intellectual Entrepreneurship; A.Hoberek
Afterword: Where Do We Go from Here?