Fables of abundance: a cultural history of advertising in America

Abstract

Introduction * The Reconfiguration of Wealth: From Fecund Earth To Efficient Factory The Lyric of Plenty The Modernization of Magic The Stabilization of Sorcery The Disembodiment of Abundance * The Containment Of Carnival: Advertising And American Social Values From The Patent Medicine Era To The Consolidation Of Corporate Power The Merger of Intimacy and Publicity The Perfectionist Project The New Basis of Civilization Trauma, Denial, Recovery * Art, Truth, And Humbug: The Search For Form And Meaning In A Commodity Civilization The Problem of Commercial Art in a Protestant Culture The Courtship of Avant-Garde and Kitsch The Pursuit of the Real The Things Themselves