The marketplace of revolution: how consumer politics shaped American independence - Breen, T.H.
Summary: Citing evidence from museum collections, colonial wills, newspaper advertisements, and archaeological sites, argues that the increasing availability of British consumer goods into the colonies help set off the American Revolution. - (Baker & Taylor)
Booklist Reviews
What was the role of "ordinary" people in preparing the path to independence between 1763 and 1775? In examining the role of the masses, in what was truly a mass movement, some historians have focused on groups with a penchant for dramatic, even violent action, such as the Sons of Liberty. History professor Breen has chosen to emphasize the less spectacular but probably more important role of common economic action. Despite the vast cultural and economic differences between the colonial regions, most colonists were participants in an emerging consumer society based upon use of British manufactured goods. This was, in essence, an open market, in which goods, services, and ideas flowed freely. American participation in this imperial market created economic and even emotional bonds between colonists that transcended regional and religious differences. So when the time for resistance arrived, these bonds provided a network for communication and organized protest, including the startlingly effective use of boycotts of goods produced in Britain. This interesting work offers an original perspective and some provocative conclusions. ((Reviewed January 1 & 15, 2004)) Copyright 2004 Booklist Reviews.
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