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The Story of a Misunderstood American Virtue
by Lauren Weber
What does it mean to be cheap? When is stowing money away wise, and when is it miserly? How might American interpret the economic downturn after years of indulgence and over-spending?
To answer these questions, In Cheap We Trust considers our hot-and-cold relationship with thrift and offers a colorful ride through its history in America, from Ben Franklin and his famous maxims to the branding of Jews and the Chinese as cheap in order to neutralize the economic competition they represented. From Dumpster-diving and the psychology of hoarding to Americans' thrifty responses to war and recession, In Cheap We Trust teases out the meanings of the word "cheap" and explores the wisdom, virtues, and pleasures of not spending every last penny, all the while sparkling with smart, engaging writing that's well worth another precious asset-time!
"While failing to provide a satisfying distinction between cheapness and thrift, the author provides a rich canvas from which to consider American ambivalence about saving." - Publishers Weekly
"Welcome reading for a newly frugal world." - Kirkus Reviews
"Weber manages, with panache, to combine a socioeconomic historical exploration that is readable and fun for the lay reader and a thoughtful defense of frugality that doesn't succumb to preachiness." - Library Journal
This information about In Cheap We Trust was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Lauren Weber was formerly a staff reporter at Reuters and Newsday. She has also written for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, American Banker, and other publications. A former resident at Yaddo, Lauren graduated from Wesleyan University and was a Knight-Bagehot fellow, a fellowship that invites 10 business journalists each year to study finance and economics at Columbia's Graduate School of Business. Lauren grew up with a father whose creative and eccentric ways of saving money included rationing household toilet paper and developing a gas-saving method of driving in which light pedal taps substituted for full braking.
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