Furthermore: Where the Headlines Take You

To Consume or Not to Consume?

We're in troubled times for consumerism. On the one hand, we have people telling us to buy less, buy green, and to recycle what we've bought once we're done with it. On the other hand, we've got people from the government, supposedly very smart people, telling us to buy more, spend rather than save, and consume to get America back on track. I'm starting to feel like the fate of the whole economy depends on which kind of laundry detergent I buy. I'd rather not have that pressure. One thing is becoming clear, though: our love for the shopping mall is growing cold. The New York Times investigates the economic fate of the Mall of America and malls in general, but also tells the stories of the shoppers and retailers in this center of the American Dream.

The story of the American mall as we know it today actually begins with an Austrian architect. Victor Gruen fled the Nazis in 1938 and quickly established himself in the United States. His original vision for the suburban mall was as a center of community, though he later joined the criticism of his own work as creating urban sprawl. Jeffrey M. Hardwick's Mall Maker : Victor Gruen, Architect of an American Dream outlines the motivations of the man and delves into his most famous projects' influence on American society.

For a breezy, fact-filled waltz through our love affair with all things shopping--bargain-hunting, the Home Shopping Network, and the market stalls of Ancient Greece, to name a few--join Pamela Klaffke on her Spree: A Cultural History of Shopping. This factoid-filled book provides short takes on the history of shopping. The only heavy lifting required will be your shopping bags. If the economy sours even further, this book might serve as an artifact to share how lightly we used to view consumption in the late 20th Century.

For those of you ready to make a shift to a less object-focused material lifestyle (let me know how it goes), Jane Hammerslough explores why Americans are so attached to our posessions in Dematerializing: Taming the Power of Possessions. You could find a better guide for living simply or taking steps to live more sustainably, but Hammerslough's book focuses on decoding the meanings we ascribe to objects as a culture and deciding as individuals what truly is valuable and important to us. She takes a personal approach without telling us what to do and reminds us to be thankful for what we have in the richest--still--country in the world.