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Adult Books - Nonfiction - Social Sciences
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Living It Up: Our Love Affair with Luxury.
Twitchell, James B. (author).
Apr. 2002. 448p. Columbia, hardcover, $27.95 (0-231-12496-1). 306.3.
REVIEW.
First published March 15, 2002 (Booklist).
Ah, the evils of luxury. Spending for its own sake, accumulating unnecessary “stuff,” the need to own for status, the trophy car, the trophy home, designer everything. But here’s the conundrum: what is considered luxury for one generation is considered necessity for the next, and today’s credit-addicted society makes luxury, or at least the appearance of luxury, available to all. Who better to sort the whole thing out than Twitchell, one of Newsweek ‘s “100 Cultural Elite.” He has some interesting tidbits about what has been considered opulent in the past, and he has coined a new term for those universally craved name-brand objects--opuluxe. It’s image above substance--think Ralph Lauren, Gucci, Montblanc, Nike, Evian, and Starbucks. But is the desire for high-end junk as wasteful and garish as it seemed when it was available to only the few? Twitchell makes the case for a mild defense of luxury in that its mass consumption ultimately lifts up the masses economically. — David Siegfried
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