The consuming temple
Subtitle: Jews, department stores, and the consumer revolution in Germany, 1880-1940
By: Paul Lerner
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Published: 2015
Place of publication: Ithaca; London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 266
ISBN-13: 9780801452864
Subjects: Department stores; Consumer behavior; Jews; Social conditions; History; Consumption (Economics)
Description: Department stores in Germany, like their predecessors in France, Britain, and the United States, generated great excitement when they appeared at the end of the nineteenth century. Their sumptuous displays, abundant products, architectural innovations, and prodigious scale inspired widespread fascination and even awe; at the same time, however, many Germans also greeted the rise of the department store with considerable unease. In The Consuming Temple, Paul Lerner explores the complex German reaction to department stores and the widespread belief that they posed hidden dangers both to the individuals, especially women, who frequented them and to the nation as a whole.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Jerusalem's terrain: the department store and its discontents in imperial Germany; title: Dream worlds in motion: circulation, cosmopolitanism, and the Jewish question; title: Uncanny encounters: the Thief, the Shop Girl, and the Department Store King; title: Beyond the consuming temple: Jewish dissimilation and consumer modernity in provincial Germany; title: The consuming fire: fantasies of destruction in German politics and culture.