Beauty and Business (Hagley Perspectives on Business and Culture) Book

"Until recently, business historians have not yielded to beauty - at least as a subject of scholarly inquiry. But beauty is big business." | o Kathy Peiss, from the Introduction Beauty seems simple; we know it when we see it. But of course our ideas about what is attractive are influenced by a broad range of social and economic factors, and in Beauty and Business leading historians set out to provide this important cultural context. How have retailers shaped popular consciousness about beauty? And how, in turn, have cultural assumptions influenced the commodification of beauty? The contributors here look to particular examples in order to address these questions, turning their attention to topics ranging from the social role of the African American hair salon, the sexual dynamics of bathing suits and shirtcollars, and the deeper meanings of corsets, to what the Avon lady tells us about changing American values. As a whole, these essays force us to reckon with the ways that beauty has been made, bought, and sold in modern America. Announcing a New Series Beauty and Business launches a new series, Hagley Perspectives on Business and Culture, edited by Philip Scranton and Roger Horowitz in conjunction with the prestigious Hagley Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society in Wilmington, Delaware - one of the nation's leading research centers. Forthcoming volumes in the series include Boys and Their Toys: Masculinity, Class, and Technology in America and Food and Culture.Read More