ABSTRACT
I used to wonder at the changes that my grandmother, born in 1900, saw in her life. She went from going to grade school on horseback to riding in automobiles and aeroplanes. She and her generation saw the introduction and adoption of radio, movies, television, home photography, telephones, electricity, jets, rockets, atomic energy, world wars, space exploration, the rise and fall of Communism, the rise of consumerism, modern art, credit cards, hi-fidelity, computers, and the considerable shaping and reshaping of the world’s nations. Yet with all the change she saw before she died at age 94, my grand-daughter, born in 1999, will undoubtedly see far, far more change during her lifetime. And more and more of this change will involve and be understood through consumption.
