Product Description: Loved and hated, visited and avoided, seemingly everywhere yet endlessly the same, malls occupy a special place in American life. What, then, is this invention that evokes such strong and contradictory emotions in Americans? In many ways malls represent the apotheosis of American consumerism, and this synthetic and wide-ranging investigation is an eye-popping tour of American culture's values and beliefs...read more

Presents a close-up look at malls and their strong role in American culture, from their architectural design and alluring displays to the hidden security cameras and the illusions created to attract shoppers, in an instructive, historical view of American values, consumerism, and the myth surrounding the obsession with consumption. 15,000 first printing. (Business & Finance)