Lears' book on 'the making of modern America' was very disappointing, whereas this was fabulous. As a caveat, I think it's fabulous because it was not only exactly what I wanted (a history of advertising tied to the culture of early to mid twentieth century America told from a vaguely Frankfurt Schoolish perspective), but also suggested something to me that I'd never considered, which was utterly engaging (the relationship between advertising and literary/artistic modernism--whether they were at war or at peace). Lears shows, pretty convincingly, how advertising played off and created distinctions between authenticity and deception, tradition and progress, objects and lifestyles and so on. And his forays into literary criticism are surprisingly good. It helps that he devotes a few pages to William Gaddis' 'The Recognitions,' which I think is probably my favorite novel of the twentieth century.

That said, there are a few problems. His very self-consciously 'bricolage' approach is often frustrating, because there's no way to get a sense of historical change. But this helps explain why this book was so engaging, whereas 'Rebirth of a Nation' was such a dud. You can be a bricoleur when writing about modernism & advertising, because the field is so restricted. A bricoleur's history of America, on the other hand, is a pretty sure-fire disaster.

As a side note, I just discovered that there's a 'Bricoleur Capital Management' company. Weird. ( )

Notes on the Typescript of "The Stabilization of Sorcery," a chapter from the book in manuscript form:

Lears begins with an introduction tot he American Middle Period which is quite intelligible. The period between 1800 and 1860 was one in which the household economy was effectively replaced by the market economy. Indeed, this was a frenetic period in which the emergent middle class was developing strategies of coping with the great uncertainty of Jacksonian laissez-faire. But we've hear that before.

What Lears adds to this picture is the equation of market forces with magic. The sorcery to which Lears refers is the sorcery of the market. This is productive of many illuminating connection which explain certain aspects of the ambiguous reaction displayed during this period toward the advance of the market. Sorcery has its fascination, but ultimately it must be contained least it become destructive.

First, Lears demonstrates that the speculative boom we saw in Rogan being set off by Jackson's appropriation of Indian land was viewed by many as a magical way of becoming rich. When the speculative boom went bust, the depression "revealed the childlike magical thinking of the typical investor" (p. 32).

Second, the magical qualities of money help explain the idea of the myth of the self-made man. Somehow if you will just apply yourself, counseled the era's success manuals, you will be a wealthy man. The obverse of the potential for wonderful success is that the ambiguity of the age results from the indeterminacy of money (p. 34). Who knew how much a given note was really worth? Success was often illusory, even magical.

Third, the magical qualities of the market are deeply rooted in the image of the peddler as purveyor of exotic goods. This leads to lingering suspicion of the market on the "frontier", with the peddler being associated in the folklore as perhaps a Yankee of especially a Jew. "The peddler was a wandering Jew with a pack on his back, promising a brief deliverance through the magical power of purchase" (pp. 42-3). The image of the peddler as a commercial seducer, particularly of women, helps explain why men often viewed the market as subversive of their authority. Keeping women inside a domestic sphere protected them from seduction, and perhaps preserved a last shred of the rapidly deteriorating paternalistic fabric of society (p. 47).

Fourth, the disorientation produced by the magical qualities of the marketplace gave rise to a suspicion of artifice, This suspicion helps explain the cult of mimesis which arose during the 1850s (p. 53). Everything from daguerreotypes to Victorian was permeated by a virtual obsession with getting the "Real McCoy". this helps explain the pictures of the enemy which developed during the years of immigration. Mimetic thinking leads to Nativism (p. 54).

Fifth, Lears helps in understanding Kerber. The idea of an alternate women's culture embodied in the discourse of domesticity is understandable is understandable as an attempt to contain the destabilizing magic of the marketplace. The sentimental idiom is understandable as a critique of the dominant culture (p. 59). Lears breathes life into the discussion of the issue of gender as a category of analysis.