"The production, acquisition, and use of consumer goods defines our daily lives, and yet consumerism is seen as increasingly controversial. Movements for sustainable and ethical consumerism are gaining momentum alongside an awareness of how our choices in the marketplace can affect public...

1. Collecting the world -- 2. American gold : sugar, tobacco and chocolate -- 3. Consuming the new world : settlements and transformation -- 4. Domesticating the exotic : a fashion for coffee, tea and porcelain -- 5. Treasures from the East : tulips and the fashion for Asia's luxury goods -- 6....