This is an impressive book, an important addition to the history of consumerism as well as to British business history during the interwar period. Peter Scott successfully argues that the period marked major steps forward in the acquisition of a number of consumer durables, headed by mass-produced furniture and radios. Ambitious business innovators, like Benjamin Drage with his commitment to selling furniture for “Mr. Everyman,” combined with rising (though still limited) incomes and the spread of owner-occupied housing to create major changes in consumer habits. The expansion of electrical service played a major role as well. And while the Depression introduced important constraints, its effects were less ordered in this domain than might be imagined.

The book rests on a truly impressive archival base, building on but exceeding the work that Scott has already done in this field. Inclusion of some period advertisements and cartoons enlivens the text. Several chapters—those on radios and home appliances most systematically—introduce careful comparisons with similar developments in the United States during the two decades. American patterns exercised decisive influence in some cases—most obviously with vacuum cleaners, as the adoption of the word “hoovering” already suggests; but there are also a number of revealing differences. British interest in refrigerators was markedly lower than American, partly because of income differentials but also because of different shopping habits. Two later chapters, on the relatively slow diffusion of cars and telephones, emphasize comparative distinctions even more strongly.

Scott's work is most detailed on the interaction between distribution efforts and changes in production systems. He argues among other things that in Britain, because of a relatively small market, the development of mass sales often had to precede major changes in production. He offers abundant details about sales efforts, including credit schemes and the new hire purchase arrangements, but also important door-to-door sales efforts, particularly concerning vacuum cleaners. The inclusion of the two instances where a mass market did not fully emerge adds substantially to the analysis.

Key chapters delve into additional details, such as the competition between electricity and gas suppliers for the home heating and cooking market—an interesting sidelight though not fundamental to the argument. Issues of patents and licensing also receive considerable attention, another area of potential interest primarily to business and institutional history. In a brief postscript, Scott comments on developments after World War II, with emphasis on counterproductive measures taken by the postwar government that somewhat reduced consumer momentum.

Overall, Scott offers an admirable array of statistical data to back up his major claims. At some points, particularly in dealing with vacuum cleaners, social class definitions are not as sharp as they might be given the book's initial claims about a working-class emphasis. But overall the major findings are amply justified by the evidence presented.

The study is stronger on the business side than on the consumer side. There is no detailed look at the motivations consumers brought to their new purchases or the impact of the durables on household life. But there are some marvelous suggestions. For instance, radios spread much more rapidly than most appliances because men, as the wage earners, had a disproportionate voice over purchases on credit and were less interested in saving their wives a bit of labor than in entertainment. But at the same time, radios, often housed in showy cabinetry, were placed in parlors, where they could demonstrate family status to any visitor; in contrast, vacuum cleaners, concealed behind the stairway, had little value for show. The importance of motivations shows up also in the slow dissemination of the telephone, where consumers were often described as “old-fashioned and prejudiced” (305).

In sum, then, The Market Makers does offer a major contribution to any analysis of the interaction between consumer interests and the advertisers and marketers who were trying to reshape consumer needs and behaviors. While the power of the manipulators played a major role in creating attachment to new necessities, the consumer voice showed through clearly as well.