{"product_id":"selling-to-the-masses-marjorie-hilton-9780822961673","title":"Selling to the Masses: Retailing in Russia, 1880-1930","description":"Marjorie L. Hilton presents a captivating history of consumer culture in Russia from the 1880s to the early 1930s. She highlights the critical role of consumerism as a vehicle for shaping class and gender identities, modernity, urbanism, and as a mechanism of state power in the transition from tsarist autocracy to Soviet socialism. Beginning in the late nineteenth century, Russia witnessed a rise in mass production, consumer goods, advertising, and new retail venues such as arcades and department stores. These mirrored similar developments in other European countries and reflected a growing quest for leisure activities, luxuries, and a modern lifestyle. As Hilton reveals, retail commerce played a major role in developing Russian public culture--it affected celebrations of religious holidays, engaged diverse groups of individuals, defined behaviors and rituals of city life, inspired new interpretations of masculinity and femininity, and became a visible symbol of state influence and provision. Through monarchies, revolution, civil war, and monumental changes in the political sphere, Russia s distinctive culture of consumption was contested and recreated. Leaders of all stripes continued to look to the \\u201ccommerce of exchange\\u201d as a key element in appealing to the masses, garnering political support, and promoting a modern nation. Hilton follows the evolution of retailing and retailers alike, from crude outdoor stalls to elite establishments; through the competition of private versus state-run stores during the NEP; and finally to a system of total state control, indifferent workers, rationing, and shortages under a consolidating Stalinist state.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Marjorie Hilton\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0822961679\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780822961673\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Pittsburgh Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 12\/16\/2011\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 344\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.10lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.20h x 5.90w x 0.90d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 07\/01\/2012","brand":"Marjorie Hilton","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46401781039359,"sku":"9780822961673","price":55.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_5fcfc448-3753-4bc2-b185-6fabacb51a13.jpg?v=1733888681","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/selling-to-the-masses-marjorie-hilton-9780822961673","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}