From Dumpster-diving and the psychology of hoarding to Americans' thrifty responses to war and recession, "In Cheap We Trust" teases out the connotations behind the word cheap and explores the wisdom and pleasures of not spending every last penny. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Guilt-free consumption has always been a cherished American value, but this book explores its flip side: a historical engagement with thriftiness, starting in the pre-revolutionary days with Benjamin Franklin, championed by reformers Booker T. Washington and Lydia Marie Child, taken to absurd lengths by the 19th-century miserly millionaire Hetty Green, espoused by economist John Maynard Keynes and married to environmental concerns by contemporary conservationists. Journalist Weber's treatise begins with recollecting her father's conservative habits and ramifies into a far-ranging examination of social programs, alternative movements and mainstream institutions including savings banks, home economics, industrial efficiency experts, "freegans," economists and war departments, all of which promote some form of frugality. While failing to provide a satisfying distinction between cheapness and thrift, the author provides a rich canvas from which to consider American ambivalence about saving; she examines how thriftiness became a racist pejorative hurled at Jewish and Asian immigrants. While the rise of consumer culture and advertising undercut individual and social efforts to save, the author also finds structural reasons for our profligacy in growing financial illiteracy, wage stagnation and deregulated financial markets. (Sept.) Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

This splendid, timely history and apologia corrects any misplaced nostalgia for a simpler, thriftier age. Business journalist Weber demonstrates that, from the Puritan settlers to today's economic stimulus measures, America has endured continual cycles of thrift and consumption, an endless battle for behavioral dominance between saving and spending. Among expected topics (wars, the Great Depression, industrial advances, and the explosion of consumer credit), she makes interesting forays into the origins of savings banks, the field of home economics, and the checkered history of National Thrift Week. The final third of the book includes a macroeconomic argument for increased savings and a collection of chapters on the voluntary simplicity and freegan movements, the psychology of frugality, and suggestions for learning the art of thrift. While this may seem a bit of a mishmash, the book is thematically consistent and convincing. VERDICT Weber manages, with panache, to combine a socioeconomic historical exploration that is readable and fun for the lay reader and a thoughtful defense of frugality that doesn't succumb to preachiness. For a sobering, supply-side view of the consumerist conundrum, pair this with Ellen Ruppel Shell's differently themed Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture.-Janet Ingraham Dwyer, Worthington Libs., OH Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Frugalista is the word of the moment, reflecting the economic downturn and, perhaps, a new U.S. trend. Yet newspaper reporter Weber, imbued with the spirit of advocacy, documents our good thrifting history from Ben Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanack to the conclusion of World War II. Live-like-a-pauper Hetty Green, a nineteenth-century millionaire, became a heroine because of her frugality, as did Emerson and Thoreau for their encomium to live content with small means. She contrasts today's yo-yo mentality of American savings with the unfortunate stereotype of Shakespeare's Shylock and thrifty immigrants. The list goes on and on, with our spending starting to escalate thanks to the Keynesian claim that saving was the enemy of economic growth. Her point of view quickly shifts, then, to the chronicling of adventures in low-cost living. Individuals like John Perry (who embargoes most new purchases for 12 months) and freegans such as Los Angeleno Helena Shoe (the extreme version) stand as just two examples of her motto: Shoppingless means we can make conscious, ethical choices about how we consume when we do spend money. Thoughts worth saving.--Jacobs, Barbara Copyright 2009 Booklist From: Syndetics Solutions, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.