Thrift : the history of an American cultural movement / Andrew L. Yarrow.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Yarrow, Andrew L., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Thriftiness--United States--History--20th century.

Thriftiness.

Social movements--United States--History--20th century.

Social movements.

Saving and investment--Social aspects.

History.

Saving and investment.

Social values.

United States.

Social values--United States--History--20th century.

Saving and investment--Social aspects--United States--History--20th century.

United States--Economic conditions--20th century.

Economic conditions.

United States--Social conditions--20th century.

Social conditions.

Physical Description:

ix, 209 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Amherst ; Boston : University of Massachusetts Press, [2014]

Summary:

In this lively and engaging book, Andrew L. Yarrow tells the story of a national movement that promoted an amalgam of values and practices ranging from self-control, money management, and efficiency to conservation, generosity, and planning for the future-all under the rubric of "thrift." Emerging in tandem and in tension with the first flowerings of consumer society, the thrift movement flourished during the 1910s and 1920s and then lingered on the outskirts of American culture from the Depression to the prosperous mid-twentieth century. A post-World War II culture that centered on spending and pleasure made the early-twentieth-century thrift messages seem outdated. Nonetheless, echoes of thrift can be found in currently popular ideas of "sustainability," "stewardship," and "simplicity" and in efforts to curtail public and private debt. Book jacket.

Contents:

Prelude

The early twentieth-century American thrift movement

Precursors of a movement

Thrift's heyday, 1910s/1930

Teaching thrift in the schools

The philosophy of thrift

National Thrift Week

Allies and strange bedfellows

The international dimension

The decline of thrift

From thrift to sustainability.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781625341327

1625341326

9781625341310

1625341318

OCLC:

880861073