|
Books | Texas
History
Shopping Mall
By Matthew Newton
(New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2017)
Object Lessons Series. Paperback,
Pages 176. $14.95.
ISBN: 978-1-5013-1482-7.
Review by Dr. Kirk
Bane
October 1, 2018 |
I
grew up in the 1970s and early 1980s as a mallrat, spending countless
hours in such shopping centers as Hulen Mall in Fort
Worth, Town East Mall in Mesquite,
Lake Air Mall in Waco,
Highland Mall in Austin,
Manor East Mall in Bryan,
and Post Oak Mall in College
Station. I have fond memories of hanging out with family and friends
and frequenting my favorite stores, including B. Dalton Bookseller,
Orange Julius, Karmelkorn, Waldenbooks, and Musicland, where each
week I excitedly purchased the latest 45 rpm singles.
As a lover of shopping centers, I enthusiastically read Matthew Newton's
Shopping Mall, a recent addition to Bloomsbury Academic's terrific
Object Lessons Series. An Associate Editor at Carnegie Museum of Art
in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Newton has produced a perceptive, thought
provoking rumination on the mall and its place in American culture.
Along the way, he discusses the importance of Monroeville Mall, a
suburban Pittsburgh shopping center, in his life. Readers interested
in history, economics, pop culture, and memoirs will enjoy Newton's
engaging volume.
Shopping malls initially appeared in this country during the mid-1950s,
and their popularity peaked in the late 1980s. Today, of course, malls
are struggling to survive, and many, known as ghost malls, have been
shuttered. Online shopping and other factors have taken a heavy toll.
"No mall," Newton poignantly observes, "is forever; their lifespan,
like our own, is finite." The author populates his study with many
intriguing individuals, including Victor Gruen, "forefather of the
American shopping mall"; filmmaker George A. Romero, who skewered
"the nation's burgeoning shop-till-you-drop culture" in his 1978 zombie
picture Dawn of the Dead; and teen singing sensation Tiffany,
known for her popular "The Beautiful You: Celebrating The Good Life
Shopping Mall Tour '87." The mall, Newton contends, is an important
"symbol-for better or worse-of America's optimism, and American excess
too."
The author has done his research. Among the books he references are
Victor Gruen and Larry Smith, Shopping Towns USA: The Planning
of Shopping Centers (1960); William Severini Kowinski, The
Malling of America: An Inside Look at the Great Consumer Paradise
(1985); and Mall Maker: Victor Gruen, Architect of an American
Dream (2004), by M. Jeffrey Hardwick.
"Attention all shoppers/it's cancellation day/yes the big adios/is
just a few hours away/it's last call/to do your shopping/at the last
mall." - Steely Dan, "The Last Mall" (2003)
Dr.
Kirk Bane,
Book Review Editor,
Central Texas Studies |
|
|
HOME
