Consuming Angels: Advertising and Victorian Women

by Lori Anne Loeb

Overview

Timid and retiring, the Victorian housewife was an "angel in the house," or so says the stereotype. But when this angel picked up a popular magazine—The Lady, for instance—she saw in its advertisements images of Grecian goddesses, women warriors, queens, actresses, adventurers. These arrestingly sexual and surprisingly powerful images are the subject of Consuming Angels, a major examination of how Victorian ads shaped social values. Stylishly written and featuring 73 reproductions, this book shows how ads used the hedonistic aspects of Victorian culture to sell their wares, glorified consumerism, and mythologized the middle-class life. Images of aggressive women, Loeb shows, played well to both men and women. And ultimately, these ads helped usher in the twentieth century with the creation of a new community: the community of consumers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195085969
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	07/01/1994
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.37(w) x 9.56(h) x 0.77(d)
Lexile:	1340L (what's this?)

About the Author

Lori Anne Loeb is Assistant Professor of Modern British History at the University of South Carolina.

Editorial Reviews

"The subject of this wonderfully illustrated book goes to the heart of modern life, the establishment of the ethos of consumption (in England) and the necessary role played in it by women. Loeb shows how the home, already transformed by mid-Victorian evangelicalism into a 'domestic temple' presided over by feminine virtue, was easily altered by advertisers into the locus of gracious middle-class consumption managed by an equivalent feminine presence."—The Boston Sunday Globe

"Loeb's argument about the impact of consumerism on women's status is most compelling....Fascinating and richly illustrated, this work is a welcome addition to social and women's history."—CHOICE

"An excellent reading for my course sermon on women as consumers. Great analysis of images within their historical contect."—Deborah I. Prosser, SUNY at Oneonta

"A superb introduction to an advertising mentality which presumably led to the successful marketing of products in an age of rapidly growing consumerism."—The Historian

"This is the first time that advertising has been taken apart and examined in this way, and [the book] is a solid starting point from which to study advertising in Victorian Britain."—Victorian Periodicals Review

"Provides and invaluable service to all those interested in the history of consumer culture, by making accessible reproductions of a wide sampling of advertisements from turn-of-the-century British magazines."—Victorian Studies

"The many illustrations are lessons in themselves...[W]ill lead many readers to look at the old ads with new eyes."—The Albion

"The dexterity with which Loeb interprets ads as a type of evidence makes this an important study. ...This is an unusual instance in which a title claims less, rather than more, for the scope of the work that the author has accomplished. Loeb's study joins the ranks of the more imaginative investigations of advertisements that have appeared in recent years."—Journal of Social History

"There is much to commend in this book. This book is a treasure trove of beautifully illustrated Victorian advertisements, and the reader acquires a real appreciation of the range and typology of the genre."—American Historical Review

From the Publisher