The Marketplace of Revolution: How Consumer Politics Shaped American Independence

Rating:
Summary: A very readable new interpertation of the American Revolutio
Review: A strong book written in a very readable style that highlights the contribution of a developing consumer society to the political environment surrounding the revolution.

This book puts the familar events of the revolution in a new (to me) perspective. I had never really considered how incongrous it was for the colonists to attack Tea, but as I was reading those events felt both newly strange and inevitable.

I never felt bogged down in theory or arcane events, and I also felt newly empowered to effect political change through my own consumer choices.

It also provided new insight to me regarding the american art in the period.

Rating:
Summary: Well-written, but a stretch?
Review: Breen writes a nice book here with lots of detail on colonists as consumers, and how the so-called market revolution impacted America prior to the Revolution. He suggests that this mass consumerism was the bond that tied Americans together and was the reason they were able to unite and rebel in 1775. My concern is that when he does expand upon the idea that this consumerism is what made colonists have something in common and allowed them to act in 1775 as a coordinated community, evidenceis lacking and Breen mostly speculates. It must have been so thus it was so, seems to be Breen's basis for conclusion.