Made to Break by Giles Slade is an interesting account of the history leading up to the modern throw away culture of American consumerism. While most people would assume a book about consumerism would be packed with horrifying facts and statistics, this book really focuses more on the evolution of consumerism through industrialization, war, business strategies and general economics. The facets of capitalism that are explained within this book are extrodinary and at times seem to trail off into tangents that are besides the point, though the side stories are fascinating and entertaining.
Giles opens with a few alarming statistics about todays production of waste and then dives immediately into the history. From bottle caps to pantyhose and onto cars and appliances Giles covers just about all the consumer products, business scenerios, political environments and consumer psychology there is to discuss on the topic. Weaving this intricate and seemingly disparate set of variables into a cohesive story of the evolution of mass production. Giles concludes by discussing todays biggest polluters and the efforts attempting to curb the mounting pollution issues.
I found this book to be fascinating more than anything else. Though so many names and stories were dispersed throughout, most the stories are all vivid in my mind and will be hard to forget. If you're interested in the history of consumerism, this book covers many aspects and combines them nicely. However, if you're looking for something that inspires action, this book is probably not what you're looking for. Although, 'how we got here' always helps when determining a course of action for 'how we fix this'. One will definately come away with a clearer understanding that the world isn't full of evil but more that social evolution has simply led us down this path. Happy reading.
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