List of Illustrations Glossary Acknowledgements Preface Introduction Chapter 1: Religious thrift - Puritans, Quakers and Benjamin Franklin i) Puritans and predestination ii) Quakers and utilitarian frugality iii) Benjamin Franklin and the individualisation of thrift iv) Neo-Puritans and Franklin fans Chapter 2: Individualist thrift - Victorians, Individualism, and Samuel Smiles i) The rise of consumerism and individualism ii) Samuel Smiles and economic morality iii) David Cameron the neo-Victorian Chapter 3: Spiritual thrift - Simplicity, anti-consumption and Henry Thoreaux i) Henry Thoreau's spiritual individualism ii) Charles Wagner's simplicity iii) Edith Wharton's domestic asceticism iv) 'Voluntary simplicity' and anti-consumption Chapter 4: Nationalist thrift - revolution, depression and world wars i) Frugality vs colonialism in revolutionary America ii) Depression, the Marx Brothers and thrifty repentance iii) 'Make do and mend' thrift in the name of democracy i) The cupcake revolution and war-era nostalgia Chapter 5: Consumer thrift - race, responsibility and rights i) Stuart Chase, Frederick Schlink and the citizen-consumer ii) The 'negro' shopper iii) Thrift societies iv) 'Your country needs you to spend', Keynes, and consumerism v) Bargain stores frugality and hedonic delights Chapter 6: Ecological thrift - frugality, nature and anti-Capitalism i) Roosevelt, conservation and careful consumption ii) Anti-globalization thrift and environmental justice iii) Left greening, the commons and collective thrift Chapter 7: Ideological thrift - One Nation Tories and the current Age-of-Austerity i) Practices of thrift - freegans, sofa-surfers, drifters, and freecyclers ii) Elements of past thrift in the present iii) Ideological motivations and resistance iv) 'Socialist thrift' or thrival? Conclusion Index.