Leading historians explore how our ideas of what is attractive are influenced by a broad range of social and economic factors. They force us to reckon with the ways that beauty has been made, bought and sold in modern America.

Philip Scranton is the Governor's Board Professor at Rutgers, editor of the journal Enterprise and Society, and director of research at the Hagley Center. He is author of several books, including Endless Novelty:Specialty Production and American Industrialization (1997).

Contents Preface, Philip Scranton Acknowledgments On Beauty, . . .and the History of Business, Kathy Peiss Part 1: Images and Reforms Any Desired Length: Negotiating Gender Through Sports Clothing, 1870-1925, Sarah A. Gordon Questionable Beauty: The Dangers and Delights of the Cigarette in American Society, 1880-1930, Nancy Bowman Collars and Consumers: Changing Images of American Manliness and Beauty, Carole Turbin Fighting the Corsetless Evil: Shaping Corsets and Cultures, 1900-1930, Jill Fields Part 2: Business and Work A Depression-Proof Business Strategy: The California Perfume Company's Motivational Literature, Katina L. Manko I Had My Own Business . . So I Didn't Have to Worry: Beauty Salons, Beauty Culturists and the Politics of African-American Female Entrepreneurship, Tiffany Melissa Gill At the Curve Exchange: Postwar Beauty Culture and Working Women at Maidenform, Vicki Howard Estee Lauder: Self- Definition and the Modern Cosmetics Market, Nancy Koehn Part 3: Constructing Commodiities Black is Profitable: The Commodification of the Afro, 1960-1975, Susannah Walker Loveliest Daughter of Our Ancient Cathay!: Representations of Ethnic and Gender Identity in the Miss Chinatown U.S.A Beauty Pagent, Judy Tzu-Chun Wu Hiding the Scars: History of Breast Prostheses After Mastectomy Since 1945, Kirsten E. Gardner Notes on the Contributors Index