Ellen Gruber Garvey has examined closely the phenomena of therise of businesses due to consumerism in "The Adman in the Parlor: Magazines and the Gendering of Consumer Culture: 1880s to 1910s." She explains how the term "magazine" comes from the French "Magasin," or department store. Magazines in America did indeed function very much as department stores, and advertisement-supported magazines constructed female readers to become consumers. Magazines of this era did not believe in the ad/editorial split. Instead, they relied on each other for effectiveness, with advertisements sometimes overlapping into fiction.
Garvey explains the genesis of magazines through trade card scrapbooks kept by young women and adolescents of the middle class, which prepared them to read advertisements and become consumers, as did advertising contests. Consumers supported magazines, which in turn offered advertisements, and to illustrate or enact allegiance to the magazine, consumers would follow the ads and buy the products.
These ads eventually became proliferated through national publications, and brand names became associated with national character. The 1890s safety bicycle initiated the first all-out female-marketed ads. Medical ads pro and against infiltrated the magazines, as did issues about female mobility.
Not all magazines were alike, however. Different magazines addressed different needs of the classes, Delineator was aimed at the upper class and cash-poor individuals subscribed to publications on how to make their own clothing.
Garvey believes the ad-reader was presumed female, and the ad-writer (or "adman") was male. This reversed the initial courtship ritual enacted in 19th Century France between shopgirl and male patron and brought the courtship home, where the adman seduced the female reader through the magazine.

In The Sex of Things: Gender and Consumption in Historical Perspective, the authors aim to analyze political demands through consumer history. Victoria de Grazia asks whether consumption a measure of economic well-being, a manner of constructing social hierarchies, or is it a way to relate to the body politic the desires of the people? Within these contexts, three themes are further examined, including the framework of European-American consumerism, the history of consumer culture, and the methodology of feminist analysis.
The purposes of these essays are to provide a historical context for the rise of consumer culture through the transition from the aristocratic to the bourgeois society. Rather than specifically detailing each essay's thesis, I will focus on the particular essays that involve a slightly more historical analysis rather than a critical, theoretical framework (although those are interesting as well).
Jennifer Jones' essay, "Coquettes and Grisettes: Women Buying and Selling in Ancien Regime Paris" tracks the "consumer revolution" between 1650 and 1789, following with a "commercial revolution." The initial transactional atmosphere during this period involved a male consumer and female merchant. This, she explains, was a broader, more public setting for a courtship ritual between the seller and buyer. As salons, cafes, promenading became leisurely pursuits, so did shopping, and it became a form of public life, resulting in more female buyers from all classes in the 1780s. According to Jones, the reasons for women being seduced by goods changed as a result of the Enlightenment: Biblical reasons like Eve seducing Adam were no longer acceptable, so inquiries into female psychology and their mental capacities through "scientific" explanations took hold (35). The female aesthetic sense and imagination became dominant reasons for their desires. These "scientifically-based" explanations were seen as acceptable and permissible, as long as the buying on the part of women were for suitors or husbands. Growing female merchants changed the courtship aspect, and it was replaced by a class system that emphasized the difference between female merchants and female consumers.
Women's work was also largely confined to the home in cottage industries during the late 19th Century. Soon, the transition from producer-based households to modern consumer households led to new democratic ideologies and problems. Anna R. Igra's "Male Providerhood and the Public Purse: Anti-Desertion Reform in the Progressive Era" reveals how the anti-desertion movement regulated man's use of wages to family and ideas of manhood. However, women were still obligated to be domestic to impede desertion. In the end, desertion implicated women as well as men.
To this de Grazia notes while families were seen as providers, it was under the State that passed laws on credit, property, retail, and defined public spending versus private spending (public spending being housing, health, education and pensions). One method to divert the attention of women from their domestic duties was the rise of department stores and commercial districts. Political commercialism fragmented centralized patriarchal systems, and individual ones. Performative politics led to collective politics. De Grazia has also, as previously mentioned, employed the feminist inquiry that combines politics with methodology. This leads us to the question, is consumption for women liberating or repressive?
In "Making Up, Making Over: Cosmetics, Consumer Culture and Women's Identity" by Kathy Peiss, the author of "Cheap Amusements" explains how earlier 20th Century female identity went from "essential, interior self to one formed in marking and coloring of the face." (330) and that commodities became the language that destabilized cultural hierarchies among women. Issues of Race and class were brought to the table by both the marketing of whiteness to African-Americans through products such as Madame C.J. Walker's hair straightener to "exotic" looks disbursed through film media, specifically Cleopatra.
De Grazia admits, as do other scholars of leisure, that there is no unified field of inquiry into consumer history. Ultimately, the book as a collection of essays examines how the consumption of an individual leads to the collective desires of families and communities, which ultimately help to define national character.

In William Leach's Land of Desire: Merchants, Power, and the Rise of a New American Culture the author ignores the topic of leisure by making it self-evident through consumerism. Leisure, and in turn consumerism, became actual businesses to the likes of the Straus Brothers and Marshall Field, as well as to by-products of consumer industries such as banks, hotels, and museums. Leach's book brings the nature of leisure full circle, from Veblen's Leisure Class to leisure of the working class, whose consumption boosted businesses that used working-class techniques based in the theatre and vaudeville as "showmanship" in the shop window.

It is interesting how the focus of leisure has changed among social historians to include elements of working-class leisure. In Eight Hours for What We Will: Workers & Leisure in an Industrial City, 1870-1920 by Roy Rosenzweig. Rosenzweig first offers theories as to why labor historians have traditionally shied away from studying leisure as an academic subject, citing the silliness and frivolity old-fashioned academics associate with the subject. After referring to these types of intellectuals as "narrow-minded,' Rozenzweig continues to use the town of Worcester, Massachusetts to discover what constituted pastimes and amusement for Worcester workers by asking three questions. The first asks what have been the traditional values among the American working class, the second asks about the character of interclass relations in America's industrial communities, and the third question asks how class culture and relations changed from the nineteenth century to the twentieth. By examining these questions, Rosenzweig believes that a town like Worcester "offers the best opportunity for capturing workers' lives in all their complexity." (Rosenzweig, 3)
The first two sections of Eight Hours for What We Will are concerned with the saloon and the effect of temperance on workers as well as the use of July Fourth celebrations "to mark out [Worcester's immigrants'] cultural distance not only from the city's elite and native middle class but also from fellow immigrants. (Rosenzweig, 65-86)
Eventually, Rosenzweig writes about how interrelationships of workers led to the rise of a leisure market, an outgrowth of both the saloon and Fourth of July celebrations. One of Rosenzweig's main arguments is that the development of amusement park, continual importance of saloons as leisure arenas, and the beginning of a film culture were all a gradual process that grew with the Worcester community itself. Less a study on the nature of leisure, Rosenzweig effectively indicates how leisure is transformed within the bounds of a working class community.

Dr. Erving Goffman, after receiving his Ph.D. in 1953 at the University of Chicago, first published The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life as a monograph at the Social Sciences Research Centre at the University of Edinburgh in 1956. Published by Anchor Books in 1959, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life effectively elaborates on Thorstein Veblen's observations about the character of the Leisure Class. However, Goffman is particularly attentive to the performative and characteristic structure of society. With the idea that "the general notion that we make a presentation of ourselves to others," (252), Goffman's critical analysis of the individual and society illuminates Veblen's theory that the individual, aspiring to a higher social status, eventually becomes an emblem for that status. Goffman delves into the interaction within tightly-knit social fabrics, revealing that the substantive transition of the individual into society is not nearly as important as his/her "performance."
Entry into a tight social circle, according to Goffman, requires "wearing a look" to avoid betraying his true stance. Goffman notes social principles are guided by moral characteristics, which eventually support that individual in society.
The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life is not merely a refutation of the adage, "you can't judge a book by its cover" - Photographer Arthur Felig's (also known as WeeGee) 1943 photograph of two impeccably bedecked tiara-sporting society dames, glared at meanly by a crotchety woman, is apt to prompt anyone to pick up the text for a browse. Indeed, in Presenation's case, the photograph has a number of meanings in regard to the substance of the text. Those who "present" themselves in certain respects are often ignorant of the disparaging view they may elicit from others, but if these "others" remotely resemble the growling woman in the photograph, the performers most likely will not care. In addition to the splendid photo, Goffman offers a few little-known meanings of words often arising from society.
Whether the etymology of the word "tact" comes from society, Goffman effectively makes a case that it is a crucial maneuver in the swirling vortex of social circles. Throughout Presentation Goffman offers the point of view of "impression management" as a tool in studying social establishments, explicating them as actor on the proverbial stage. Impression Management serves to "prevent outsiders from coming into a performance that is not addressed to them."

Robert W. Rydell's book, All the World's a Fair: Visions of Empire at American International Expositions, 1876-1916 is far different a study than Roy Rosenzweig's, yet it offers some interesting insights into how the moneyed leisure class still indulged in luxuries of their own. Rydell writes that the impetus behind world's fairs was to boost the economy while maintaining an American authority over the displays. Just as saloons and amusement parks were necessary for America's working class, the World's Fairs were designed for the leisure class.
The world fairs of 1876-1916 betrayed a much more sinister agenda. Ideas of American progressed became related to scientific racism. The widening concern over immigration by the leisure class eventually promoted eugenicist ideas about the hierarchy of white populations.
World's fairs did not stand in direct opposition to the leisure pastimes of the working class. In fact, they utilized them to "scientifically" and racially segregate members of the American population.
Rydell argues that the world's fairs in America from 1876-1916 were a material vision of political, business, and intellectuals to promote their vision of racial dominance. Thus, so far we have witnessed segregation of leisure along class lines but not until reading , All the World's a Fair: Visions of Empire at American International Expositions, 1876-1916 is it so clear that the elements of leisure rested on racial superiority.

Known by his contemporaries as the only social theorist to apply Darwin critically, in 1899 Thorstein Veblen published The Theory of the Leisure Class: A Economic Study of Institutions, which was to become the basis from which all further American leisure history and theory stemmed. In his study, Veblen is primarily concerned with the "new rich," whom he regards as social parasites that retard the growth of modern life. Thorstein Veblen wrote The Theory of the Leisure Class from a perspective that was largely isolated from his own culture, which either aided in his understanding of the Leisure Class or perhaps negatively influenced his opinions due to his exclusion from it. In The Theory of the Leisure Class, Veblen essentially confines man and woman's existence on the planet as a struggle to change and adapt with the growth of their communities. Through this belief, Veblen develops a theme that amounts to the idea of a certain "dominant" type of individual. This individual develops a social structure through dominance in which social advance is sought by others. She/he will feel the discrepancy between the modern life and traditional life during the process. Though Veblen's rhetoric is sometimes anxious, sometimes negative, he actively pursues a specific account of the origins of the Leisure Class through individuals. The struggle for individual advancement eventually expands to include society, and the more individual struggle for advancement in society leads to the accumulation of surplus goods.
Surplus of conspicuous consumption by the Leisure Class gives the class license to indulge shamefully in pure conspicuous consumption, where their occupations eventually become leisure itself. These "professions" of the Leisure Class by nature render it closed, and impenetrable by outsiders.
Thorstein Veblen wrote the Leisure Class represented the new phenomena of conspicuous consumption compared to pre-Industrialized wealthy communities as well as contemporary working-class ones. But as intellectual inquiry into the topic of leisure has progressed over the past one hundred years, leisure has come to hold a number of definitions and meanings.

Gourevitch's book is a gut-wrenching account of the 1994 genocide on the part of the Hutu government to kill 800,000 Tutsi neighbors, not because of the graphic nature but because of the complacency and ignorance of the rest of the world while this was happening. Gourevitch seems personally affected by the genocide, particularly when western nations 1) not only could have stopped the genocide but also 2) aided the Hutus in refugee camps.

Gourevitch's blame falls on the Clinton Administration, the UN and General Kofi Annan and France. The fact that massacres were going to take place, he claims, was within the knowledge of all these different powers even before the massacre occurred.

The bulk of Gourevitch's book is interviews with a cross-section of the Rwandan public who displayed courage, as well as those who didn't.

The theme of genocide progresses throughout the book but then becomes subsumed in a narrative of various relief efforts with names that are difficult to keep track of (RPF, FAR, UNAMIR, etc.)

Gourevitch writes as a journalist, and it differs in many ways from scholarly articles such as "Beyond Nuremberg" by David Cohen, which I read previous to We Wish To Inform You. In trying to draw parallel themes, I found that Gourevitch was seeking to expose how the murder of the Tutsis in Rwanda was carried out even more methodically than the Nazis' Final Solution. His point is particularly disconcerting after having read about the complex legalities of the Nuremberg and Tokyo Tribunals, only to have another genocide occur 50 years later, largely ignored by the public. Gourevitch's book effectively changes this, and brings the atrocities in Rwanda to the public, where they can no longer be ignored.

James Ellroy's "The Black Dahlia" may be a working hypothesis for a real unsolved crime tangled in the guise of prose, but the book is much more than a true crime/novel-it is an extremely well-researched glimpse into the minds and emotions of post World War II citizens of Los Angeles, the confusion that is raised in the face of an unspeakable crime, and our abilities as human beings to cope.

Entertaining Satan: Witchcraft and the Culture of Early New England is an example of cultural and psychological history done within the realm of the witchraft phenomenon in early New England. In his book, the author effectively ties in all the data possible pertaining to witchraft during the 17th Century and analyzes it from different perspectives including cultural, psychological, sociological, and combining all of these creates a lucid and well-documented history. In part one, John Putnam Demos carefully examines all aspects of the biographical nature of witches in the 17th century that are available to him. He first and foremost states that the witch trials of Salem were not (as popular belief has it) the only witch trials in America during the period. He then is extremely careful in presenting evidence in formulating a biographical sketch of the typical witch. In the first part, John Putnam Demos leads me to recall Laurel Thatcher Ulrich's A Midwife's Tale in that, through murky and tenuous records and evidence, he manages to draw out and breathe life into what would otherwise be simple court records and disjointed data. He is also very self-critical and, before each interpretation of Rachel Clinton and John Godfrey's biographical sketches as well as the findings of family life in 17th Century New England, the author presents a host of caveats relating to the evidence. Sentences like "This material cannot meaningfully be quantified" (74) and "the extant records do not yield fully adequate information," (76) are common phrases Demos uses before drawing conclusions from the information available to him. In Part Two of Entertaining Satan, John Putnam Demos gives us a convincing psychological argument as to the character and nature of not only the suspected witches themselves, but the psychodynamic structures of the 17th century community. He offers a myriad of psychoanalytic tools, most notably projection, in attempting to understand what propelled the fear of witchcraft. By placing psychology in the context of his understanding of history of witchcraft in 17th Century New England, it's apparent that Demos effectively carries out what I think Peter Loewenberg was trying to do in Decoding the Past: The Psychohistorical Approach. Instead of relying on one psychological method (Freud), Demos recognizes the dangers of overly relying on one model of interpretation, which is why his evidence and argument are much more convincing than were Loewenberg's. John Putnam Demos executes effectively what Peter Loewenberg ignores entirely (with the exception of the Nazi Youth Cohort article), namely, a psychology of the group with respect to 17th century community and witchcraft. Part Three is aptly titled "Sociology" because it is here where Demos examines the power of local gossip through records and his own interpretation of them. For instance, a record might reveal nothing substantial but once he studies it, Demos can argue that certain families were predisposed to witchcraft condemnation exactly because of societal reasons. This sociological approach to history also makes me recollect The New Cultural History in that, in much the same ways, Demos is learning about a society through their collective conscience and unconscious and thus can explain what contributed further to the witchcraft phenomenon. In Part Four, Demos again makes the argument that not only were the Salem witch trials not an isolated even, but that witch trials were continuous through history. He studies the witchcraft phenomenon through other towns such as Hampton as well as records pertaining to its inhabitants. In these last chapters, Demos also stresses how, although the majority of them were, not all towns with inhabitants accused of witchcraft were "Puritan." Though studying Hampton and the town of Wethersfield, Demos sketches a convincing history of communities in New England and what diseases/maladies/afflictions they may have had that would supplant evidence of "witchcraft." This last part draws together well-argued biographical sketches as well as the psychology and sociology of a given community to provide a general history of the communities and the impact witchcraft had on them. Entertaining Satan by John Putnam Demos is a coherent, extremely well-rounded history of witchcraft on 17th Century New England. But while it is a solid history book, it is also an excellent example of psychological history done well. Because it is such an excellent psychological history, it is excellent cultural history in that it supplies, analyzes, and interprets the community as a force and a power that is capable of shaping and creating its own historical destiny. I liked Entertaining Satan because for me, it recalled all the other books I have read for this class up to this point and gave them all a new meaning in as to how to approach history. Had I read Entertaining Satan before reading The New Cultural History, A Midwife's Tale, or Decoding the Past I may have been much more critical of the book. But knowing now how difficult it is to write a firm, convincing cultural history of a subject using data, psychology, and interpretation, I have a large amount of respect for how well-rounded a history Entertaining Satan is.