Land of Desire is a book by William Leach about the development of consumer capitalism in the United States from 1890 to 1932. It was a National Book Award Finalist for 1993.
The title of the book comes from the statement by store owner John Wanamaker that "everyone who starts a new thing has to stand where Columbus did when he set sail. Few had faith that he could ever reach the land of desire."
Synopsis
Land of Desire opens with the premise that American democracy shifted fundamentally after the Civil War as land ownership became concentrated in fewer hands and the population moved to cities to become wage laborers. In the accompanying cultural transformation money gained importance as the good life came to be defined no longer by control over production but by the power to consume (pp. 3–8). The emphasis shifted away from home, family, and self-reliance and towards standard of living, comfort, and luxury. This new mentality permeated all parts of society, including religious traditions, which adapted to the new mode of capitalism despite pockets of resistance.
Economic change
The rise in consumption was preceded by a rise in mass production in which factory size increased dramatically and large corporations began to dominate the economic landscape. Suddenly overproduction became a real concern, and the corporations had to focus on finding new markets for their products (pp. 15–19).
Stores in the nineteenth century were generally small, with Alexander Turney Stewart's "marble palace" an exception. However, Tunney sold mostly dry goods, in wholesale quantities. Department stores appeared in the 1880s, first in New York and Chicago. Within a few decades these had become large and powerful, and had overcome some organized attempts to resist their dominance over local retail markets. The biggest names in the business were John Wanamaker (Wanamaker's), Marshall Field (Marshall Field's), "Department-Store Napoleon" Henry Siegel (Siegel-Cooper Company), Edward and Lincoln Filene (Filene's), and the Straus family—Isidor, Nathan, Percy and Jesse—of Macy's (pp. 20–35). (Leach explores the personal life of some of these figures, especially John Wanamaker—, whose Protestant faith Leach juxtaposes with his business strategies—and his son Rodman Wanamaker; pp. 191–224.)
As retailing increased in scope, so did service economy, including not only the staff of retail stores but also workers in the hospitality industry and other sites of consumption. Ellsworth Statler and Lucius Boomer both developed the ideology of service in the hotel chains they owned. Tipping became institutionalized as an incentive to good service and a symbol of the status and power of the customer. Easy credit arose as a lubricant for consumption, sometimes enabling unsupportable spending binges. In cases such as Wanamaker v. Weaver (1903) department stores sued husbands to force them to pay their wives' spending debts (pp. 123–134).
By the 1920s, financiers (Goldman, Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Paul Mazur) turned the large stores into even larger chains and corporations though mergers and acquisitions. (pp. 263–292).
Marketing and display
The book devotes considerable attention to Wizard of Oz author L. Frank Baum, a display window designer and nationally known expert on decoration. It discusses other window designers including Elbert Hubbard, Arthur Fraser, and Walter F. Allert, commercial artists such as Maxfield Parrish, Louis Tiffany, Joseph Urban, Boardman Robinson, and promoters of advertising such as Robert Ogden (pp. 39–70 and passim).
Store interiors became increasingly ornate and carefully planned. Merchandisers also differentiated their stores, with high-end areas for "the classes" and bargain basements for "the masses". Further differentiation brought cafeterias, tearooms, nurseries, concert halls, and theaters to draw shoppers and enhance their sense of well-being in the store. Architects incorporated elevators, escalators, and revolving doors for easy flow through the store. Designers used glass, mirrors, and lighting to increase the allure of goods and create feelings of depth. Decorators developed seasonally changing central themes based on holidays, mythology, orientalism, and other domains engaging the public imagination (pp. 71–84; 134–146).