Counter Cultures: Saleswomen, Managers, and Customers in American Department Stores, 1890-1940

The luxurious appearance and

handsome profits of American department stores from 1890 to 1940 masked

a three-way struggle among saleswomen, managers, and customers for control

of the selling floor. Counter Cultures explores the complex nature

and contradictions of the conflict in an arena where class, gender, and

the emerging culture of consumption all came together.

Counter Cultures

is a path-breaking and imaginative social history. Benson has made an

original and sophisticated contribution to the study of the work process

in the service sector.

– Journal of American History

Counter Cultures

advances our understanding of the history of women and work, and it does

so in an engaging way that should command the attention not only of historians

but of a general readership as well.

– Women’s Review of Books