History book wins reviewer’s award

Historian Professor Peter Gurney has scooped a CHOICE award for his latest book.

Professor Gurney, of the Department of History, won the Outstanding Academic Title award for his book The Making of Consumer Culture in Modern Britain.

It’s the second time he has won a CHOICE accolade having previously been singled out in 1997 for his book Co-operative Culture and the Politics of Consumption in England, 1870-1930.

Each year CHOICE, the journal of the American Library Association, commissions around 6,000 short reviews of academic titles. In 2018, eight titles across UK history, geography and area studies were named as outstanding, including Professor Gurney’s.

In its review, CHOICE said: “The book provides important insights into class and gender as it pertains to politics and consumption, and highlights the dual sense of satisfaction and anxiety that has characterized modern consumer culture.

“The well-paced analysis likewise traces the evolution of consumption-related practices such as advertising and the experience of shopping.

“Professor Gurney’s study of consumer culture in Britain since 1800 shows how the consumer took centre stage, over the worker and the producer, in modern Britain and argues that consumer culture was shaped as much by politics as it was by economic and social factors.”

Professor Alison Rowlands, Director of Research in our Department of History, said: “We are very proud that Peter’s work, which makes a key contribution to our cultures of class research cluster, has (again) gained this international recognition.

“Peter’s research continues to demonstrate the extent to which social, cultural and political history are intertwined; his focus on the politics of consumption is strongly relevant in today’s world, as we begin to understand how our actions as consumers affect the world.”