Includes bibliographical references (p. 233-277) and index.

Introduction: The problem itself--- Buying the farm; The Midwest, Midwestern Farmers, and the origins of a regional consumer heritage, 1825-1860 --- Breaking the prairie and taming the market; The formation of a consumer Ethos in the Rural Midwest --- The men in the middle; Agents and the development of a Demand-Driven consumer economy, 1840-1861--- An all-consuming vision; The expression of rural consumer ideology, 1865-1875--- Town v. country; Advertising and Consumer Patterns, 1865-1880 --- A battle of standards; The renunciation of the rural consmer Ethos by the patrons of Husbandry, 1875-1882 --- Mail order; The commercialization of rural consumer Ethos, 1873-1906--- Conclusion.