Leigh Eric Schmidt is an Associate Professor of History at Princeton University. He is the author of Holy Fairs: Scottish Communions and American Revivals in the Early Modern Period (Princeton).
"Honorable Mention for the 1996 Ray and Pat Browne Award for Best
Book in Popular Culture"
"Conceptually sophisticated, wide ranging; [Schmidt] treats
Valentine's Day, Easter, and Mother's Day as well as Christmas all
within a delicately balanced framework of tensions between market
rationality and romantic sentiment. . . . [A] fresh and timely
alternative to contemporary academic fashion."---Jackson Lears, The
New Republic
"Filled with interesting facts and nascent ideas."---Fred Miller
Robinson, The New York Times Book Review
"[A] richly documented, smoothly narrated, and lavishly illustrated
[study] by a cultural historian who knows his stuff and tells it
with panache. Consumer Rites is good history and good reading. . .
. A brilliant chronicle of the American tale where domesticated
remnants of Protestant religion, not nationalist identity alone,
drove developments, and where capitalist expansion was in the
driver's seat."---Lawrence A. Hoffman, Cross Currents
"Its that time of year again: holiday shopping, and lots of it.
Ever wonder how this American tradition got started? In this
enlightening book, Leigh Eric Schmidt looks at holidays in our
country and how they've evolved over the past 150 years into highly
commercialized events. . . . Consumer Rites is without question a
true holiday gift, and it makes for fascinating reading."
*Washington Post Book World*
"Consumer Rites is good history and good reading. . . . a terrific
story terrifically told. . . . richly documented, smoothly
narrated, and lavishly illustrated by a cultural historian who
knows his stuff and tells it with panache. . . . Give it as a gift
next Christmas, Mother's Day or Father's Day! It's the American
thing to do."
*Cross Currents*
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