Jewish Consumer Cultures in Nineteenth and Twentieth-Century Europe and North America

This book investigates the place and meaning of consumption in Jewish lives and the roles Jews played in different consumer cultures in modern Europe and North America. Drawing on innovative, original research into this new and challenging field, the volume brings Jewish studies and the history and theory of consumer culture into dialogue with each other. Its chapters explore Jewish businesspeople's development of niche commercial practices in several transnational contexts; the imagining, marketing, and realization of a Jewish national homeland in Palestine through consumer goods and strategies; associations between Jews, luxury, and gender in multiple contexts; and the political dimensions of consumer choice. Together the essays in this volume show how the study of consumption enriches our understanding of modern Jewish history and how a focus on consumer goods and practices illuminates the study of Jewish religious observance, ethnic identities, gender formations, and immigrant trajectories across the globe.

Explores the meaning of consumption in Jewish lives in various consumer cultures in Europe and North America Combines approaches to Jewish studies and the history and theory of consumer culture Investigates Jewish businesspeople's development of commercial practice in several transnational contexts

Autorentext

Paul Lerner is Professor of History at the University of Southern California, USA, where he directs the Max Kade Institute for Austrian-German-Swiss Studies. He is the author of The Consuming Temple: Jews, Department Stores, and the Consumer Revolution in Germany, 1880-1940.

Uwe Spiekermann (uwe-spiekermann.com) is Privatdozent at the University of Göttingen, Germany. His research interests include the history of consumption, retailing, nutrition, and knowledge. The most recent of his 13 books is Künstliche Kost: Ernährung in Deutschland, 1840 bis heute.

Anne Schenderlein is Managing Director of the Dahlem Humanities Center at Freie Universität Berlin. Before that, she was a research fellow at the German Historical Institute Washington. She is the author of Germany on their Minds? German Jewish Refugees and their Relationships to Germany, 1933-1938.

Inhalt

1. Jews, Consumer Culture, and Jewish Consumer Cultures An Introduction by Uwe Spiekermann, Paul Lerner, and Anne Schenderlein.- 2. Beyond the Bright Side of Consumer Culture: Jewish Peddlers and Second-Hand Dealers in Germany, 1800-1938 by Uwe Spiekermann.- 3. Advertising in the German-Zionist Press in the First Decades of the Twentieth Century: A Case Study by Olivier Baisez.- 4. Consuming Temples on Both Sides of the Atlantic: German-speaking Jews from the Department Store to the Mall by Paul Lerner.- 5. Stanley Marcus: Fashioning A City by Nils Roemer.- Part II Jewish Consumer Cultures.- 6. Buy Me a Mink: Jews, Fur, and Conspicuous Consumption by Kerry Wallach.- 7. Mrs. Blumenthal Builds Her Dream House: Jewish Women and Consumer Culture in Postwar American Suburbs by Aleisa Fishman.- 8. The Jewish Consumer Culture of British Mandate Palestine by Hizky Shoham.- Part III Jewish Questions, German Questions, and the Politics and Meaning of Consumption in the Modern World.- 9. American Jewish Boycotts of Germany before and after the Holocaust by Anne Schenderlein.- 10. The Art Market in Photography: Modernity, Jews, and Wiedergutmachung? By Michael Berkowitz.- 11. Does Consumer Culture Matter? The Jewish Question and the Changing Regimes of Consumption by Gideon Reuveni.<p