| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 88.4

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| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 88.4 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Sowing the American Dream: How Consumer Culture Took Root in the Rural Midwest. By David Blanke. (Athens: Ohio University Press, 2000. xvi, 282 pp. Cloth, $59.95, ISBN 0-8214-1347-3. Paper, $21.95, ISBN 0-8214-1348-1.)

David Blanke's Sowing the American Dream is a carefully researched analysis of the origins of the "consumer culture" in the rural Midwest. Blanke has contributed to our understanding of the emergence of capitalism by focusing on the rural consumers who drove the economy during the nineteenth century. 1

The book actually has two major parts. The first focuses on the development of a "rural commercial ethos" during a period of extraordinary economic growth. This ethos was predicated on a drive for material success, but it was also rooted in a communal sensibility expressed through activities such as agricultural fairs. The second part centers on the difficulties that midwestern farmers faced following the Civil War. These included economic deflation, rising debt, and changes in both consumer tastes and marketing strategies. Their attempt to deal with these problems was also rooted in community action but pursued through organizations such as the Grange. . . .

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