Market Sentiments : Middle-Class Market Culture in Nineteenth-Century America (Hardcover)

Interdisciplinary history explaining the rise of capitalism, sentimentalism, the marketplace, and the parlor This brilliant examination of the nineteenth-century challenges a central tenet of American history: that in the past men and women lived in separate spheres. Women, supposedly, lived lives focused around hearth and home; men focused on trade and commerce. Market Sentiments turns this argument on its head, showing how the market revolution was inextricably linked to sentimental beliefs. The invention of Valentine's Day and the rise of popular fashion magazines that used a sentimental language for attracting customers illustrate how the market and the parlor were closely intertwined.