Pop Culture

“With  How Luxury Lost Its Luster , [Dana] Thomas—who has been the cultural and fashion writer for Newsweek in Paris for 12 years—has written a crisp, witty social history that’s as entertaining as it is informative.”   — New York TimesFrom the author of The Price of Fast Fashion and the Future of Clothes  Once luxury was available only to the rarefied and aristocratic world of old money and royalty. It offered a history of tradition, superior quality, and a pampered buying experience. Today, however, luxury is simply a product packaged and sold by multibillion-dollar global corporations focused on growth, visibility, brand awareness, advertising, and, above all, profits. Award-winning journalist Dana Thomas digs deep into the dark side of the luxury industry to uncover all the secrets that Prada, Gucci, and Burberry don't want us to know. Deluxe is an uncompromising look behind the glossy façade that will enthrall anyone interested in fashion, finance, or culture.

If you're fascinated by the evolution of luxury goods and how they shifted from a symbol of tradition and craftsmanship to emblems of corporate power, "Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster" could illuminate this transition for you. Dana Thomas offers a tantalizing backstage pass to the inner workings of the fashion world, perfect for anyone interested in understanding the true cost of the designer label.

STARBUCKED will be the first book to explore the incredible rise of the Starbucks Corporation and the caffeine-crazy culture that fuelled its success. Part Fast Food Nation , part social history, STARBUCKED combines investigative heft with witty cultural observation in telling the story of how the coffeehouse movement changed our everyday lives and language, from our evolving neighbourhoods and workplaces to the ways we shop, socialise, and self-medicate across the world. In STARBUCKED, Taylor Clark provides an objective, meticulously reported look at the volatile issues like gentrification and fair trade that distress activists and coffee zealots alike. Through a cast of characters that includes coffee-wild hippies, business sharks, slackers, Hollywood trendsetters and more, STARBUCKED explores how it helped transform US culture and more than 20 other countries into coffee gourmets in only a few years, how Starbucks manipulates psyches and social habits to snare loyal customers, and why many of the things we think we know about the coffee commodity chain are false.