Title: "Miracle House Hoop-La": Corporate Rhetoric and the Construction of the Postwar American House
Abstract:"'Miracle House Hoop-La'" is a primary-source study of the influence of the tropes of "dream houses" and "miracle houses" within the building industry from 1944 to 1946. Though technophilic "miracle h..."'Miracle House Hoop-La'" is a primary-source study of the influence of the tropes of "dream houses" and "miracle houses" within the building industry from 1944 to 1946. Though technophilic "miracle houses" had been dreamed up and promised to a desperate public throughout the Depression and the war years, the imminent challenges of the postwar housing crisis caused developers and builders alike suddenly to downplay the very vision they had been peddling, fearful that consumers would demand too much from their housing. Accordingly, the industry made a concerted effort to define the perfect postwar house as a site of "pseudo-individuality," rather than as a site of technological miracles. Drawing primarily on trade journals as a window on the industry, the article makes the case that this episode is emblematic of relations between industrial forces and social constructions of the individual.Read More
Publication Year: 2005
Publication Date: 2005-09-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 5
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