American Bulk
Essays on Excess
26 November 2024
Territory Rights — Worldwide.
Description
A tender, critical and curious window into the American ethos of quantity over quality
To be American is to hoard, to collect. But what if that wasn’t a bad thing? Emily Mester’s American Bulk asks readers to see our national consumer obsession as more than a modern scourge—to consider consumption a complex character in a larger story of capitalism, imperialism and technology. In sharply witty prose, Mester details how a seasonal stint at Ulta Beauty reveals the insidious performance of retail sales, how Yelp reviews highlight the lengths Americans go to curate their personal ephemera, and why they can’t help but find joy at Costco. In a stark reexamination of diet culture and fatness, Mester recounts her teenage summer at fat camp and the liberatory body neutrality that surrounded her. And in Storm Lake, Iowa, Mester excavates her grandmother’s abandoned hoard, among other discoveries about her own family’s history. American Bulk asks us to regard consumption not with guilt but with grace and empathy.
Reviews
"[American Bulk] excels at restoring texture to the smooth banalities of our consumer existence. Mester is like a Midwestern Baudrillard...[A] cultural critic of such promise deserves a big welcome mat."
— The New York Times Book Review
"A dryly witty and deeply thoughtful essay collection that delves into everything from the bulk-buying psychology that powers Costco's popularity to what it's like to work seasonal shifts at Ulta Beauty." — Vogue
"A dryly witty and deeply thoughtful essay collection that delves into everything from the bulk-buying psychology that powers Costco's popularity to what it's like to work seasonal shifts at Ulta Beauty." — Vogue
