Irresistible Empire: America's Advance through Twentieth-Century Europe (review)

There is no doubt that the twentieth century is America's century, but the terms of that conquest and dominance are less certain and apparent. Of course, military force has much to do with the creation of this hegemony, despite periodic bouts of isolationism. But even in these moments of vaunted withdrawal from the political and military systems of the world, there is nothing to suggest a withdrawal in an economic sense. Indeed, during the isolationist 1920s, as de Grazia describes it, the United States was having an astounding impact on the protectionist, traditional capitalist economies of Europe. This was a quiet contest in which American modes of mass consumption and marketing, Fordism, and advertising agencies, challenged and transformed by example and competition the class-bound, bourgeois consumption economies of the Continent.

De Grazia poses the problem of her discussion as a confrontation between two very different regimes of modern capitalism: mass consumption represented by the United States and the class-defined consumption economies of Europe. One of the striking ideas in this equation is the role of Nazi Germany, depicted as an extreme example of an anticonsumption opposition to marketing capitalism. Other nations did far less to create autarchic economies, but France, Italy, and other Continental powers struggled to protect domestic industries, and, more important, domestic distributions systems, from the American model. In the end, however, European economies reorganized around the notions of mass consumption exemplified in chain stores, brand advertising, and, particularly, Hollywood-style films with their iconic stars and lavish and tempting portrayals of the American Way of Life. Ironically, the victory of American advertising was one of style and systematization rather than of technology or invention. Ultimately, it was imagination and conquest by desire that won out over economies that valued small industry, the corner shop, and personal interaction in economic exchange.

The great strength of this book—and it is substantial—is the ingenious and convincing research. De Grazia has found her story in the expected places—none more so than in the struggle of the Hollywood majors to break open European movie markets—as well as some very unusual sites. Her inquiry takes her first to Rotary Clubs as the prototypical meeting place for entrepreneurs that stressed American-style business associations. It is no accident that the Nazi's banned the organization in 1937 because of its openness, admission of Jewish businessmen, and international ties. Her next subject is the challenge that standardized mass consumption presented to European socialists who, until the 1930s, still asserted working-class asceticism, and, even after World War II, presented themselves as the critics of American Taylorism and chain store monopolies.

The heart of the book, however, lies in the central chapters on chain stores, brand names, advertising, and supermarkets. Each of these formed a portion of an integral system of mass marketing that alternatively appalled, enticed, and eventually persuaded Europeans to adopt their own version of the model. The result was a highly successful European version of American consumer capitalism embodied in such giant entities as Carrefour, which competed on equal terms with American corporations. In effect, not only Khrushchev had to face down the challenge of washing machines and "La Cuisine Americaine" (the American-style kitchen), but Europe too had its own version of the kitchen debate which it also lost.

There is much to praise in this work and one after another insight that suggests a close reading of sources too little invoked in understanding international relations. There are important insights in Hollywood marketing strategies, the creation of universal branding (like the laundry soap, Ariel) that disguised its origins, and the impact of the Marshall Plan on consumption. De Grazia's depiction of the role of Germany is particularly interesting as an alternative model of economic organization, with anti-Semitic priorities that challenged the prominent place of Jewish entrepreneurs in creating the new mass marketing model, and, indeed, saw...