Sowing the American Dream

by Blanke, David

• ISBN13: 9780821413470
• ISBN10: 0821413473
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-12-01
• Publisher: Ohio Univ Pr

Summary

From 1840 to 1900, Midwestern Americans experienced firsthand the profound economic, cultural, and structural changes that transformed the nation from a premodern, agrarian state to one that was urban, industrial, and economically interdependent. Midwestern commercial farmers found themselves at the heart of these changes. Their actions and reactions led to the formation of a distinctive and particularly democratic consumer ethos, which is still being played out today.

Author Biography

David Blanke resides in northwest Iowa, where he is an assistant professor of history at Briar Cliff College.

Table of Contents

List of Tables	vii
Preface and Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction
The Problem Itself	1	(11)
Buying the Farm
The Midwest, Midwestern Farmers, and the Origins of a Regional Consumer Heritage, 1825--1860	12	(19)
Breaking the Prairie and Taming the Market
The Formation of a Consumer Ethos in the Rural Midwest	31	(35)
The Men in the Middle
Agents and the Development of a Demand-Driven Consumer Economy, 1840-1861	66	(28)
An All-Consuming Vision
The Expression of Rural Consumer Ideology, 1865--1875	94	(38)
Town v. Country
Advertising and Consumer Patterns, 1865--1880	132	(29)
A Battle of Standards
The Renunciation of the Rural Consumer Ethos by the Patrons of Husbandry, 1875--1882	161	(23)
Mail Order
The Commercialization of the Rural Consumer Ethos, 1873-1906	184	(37)
Conclusion	216	(5)
Appendix 1: Delaware Country Granges	221	(6)
Appendix 2: Advertisements	227	(6)
Notes	233	(46)
Index	279