‎BREWER (John) & Roy PORTER (edited by).‎
‎Consumption and the World of Goods.‎

‎ London and New York, Routledge, 1997, gr. in-8°, xxi-564 pp, 64 pl. de gravures hors texte, 8 figures, index, broché, couv. illustrée, bon état. Texte en anglais‎

Reference : 117602

‎"Depuis une trentaine d’années, les études se sont multipliées sur l’histoire de la consommation à l'époque moderne, soulevant de nombreux débats. L’impulsion a été donnée en bonne partie par les historiens anglo-saxons qui ont les premiers insisté sur l’importance de l’expansion du marché intérieur de leur pays entre la fin du XVIIe siècle et la fin du XVIIIe siècle. La production scientifique a été soutenue, avec pour point d’orgue les articles rassemblés par John Brewer et Roy Porter dans un livre phare, “Consumption and the World of Goods”. Les vingt-cinq articles brossent un panorama dynamique des concepts, des méthodes, des travaux en cours qui témoignent d’approches variées, aux problématiques stimulantes, qu’ils soient à dominante économique, culturelle, sociale, genrée..." (Natacha Coquery, “La diffusion des biens à l'époque moderne”, Histoire urbaine, 2011) — "There is something for everybody in this handsome volume, impeccably edited and produced." (Peter Earle, The Times Literary Supplement) – "A fascinating book ... brought together by two outstanding historians." (Keith Thomas, The Observer) – "This book deserves to be widely read." (Gary Mead, The Financial Times) — The study of past society in terms of what it consumes rather than what it produces is – relatively speaking – a new development. The focus on consumption changes the whole emphasis and structure of historical enquiry. While human beings usually work within a single trade or industry as producers, as, say, farmers or industrial workers, as consumers they are active in many different markets or networks. And while history written from a production viewpoint has, by chance or design, largely been centred on the work of men, consumption history helps to restore women o the mainstream. The history of consumption demands a wide range of skills. It calls upon the methods and techniques of many other disciplines, including archaeology, sociology, social and economic history, anthropology and art criticism. But it is not simply a melting-pot of techniques and skills, brought to bear on a past epoch. Its objectives amount to a new description of a past culture in its totality, as perceived through its patterns of consumption in goods and services. “Consumption and the World of Goods” examine history from this perspective, and is a unique collaboration between twenty-six leading subject specialists from Europe and North America. The outcome is a new interpretation of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, one that shapes a new historical landscape based on the consumption of goods and services. ‎