One of Britain's defining contributions to the modern world, Free Trade united civil society and commerce and gave birth to consumer power. In this book, Frank Trentmann shows how the doctrine of Free Trade contributed to the growth of a democratic culture in Britain--and how it fell apart. Far from the cold economic doctrine of today, in an earlier battle over globalization Free Trade was a passionately held ideal, central to public life and national identity. Free Trade inspired popular entertainment and advertising, in seaside resorts, shows, and shopping streets. It mobilized an alliance of elites and the people, businessmen and working-class women, imperialists and internationalists. Free Trade Nation follows the creation of this culture in nineteenth-century Britain, and its subsequent unraveling in the First World War and the depression of the 1930s, when consumers and internationalists, labor and business now attacked it for sacrificing international stability and domestic welfare at the temple of cheapness. These successful attacks marked the end of a defining chapter in history. The popular culture of Free Trade was never to return. For anyone interested in the current problem of globalization, this book offers a vivid and thought-provoking perspective on the success and failure of Free Trade. For champions of trade liberalization, it is a reminder that culture, ethics and popular communication matter just as much as sound economics. Believers in Fair Trade, by contrast, will be surprised to learn that in the past it was Free Trade, not Fair Trade, that was seen to stand for values such as democracy, justice, and peace. "Undoubtedly a book of enduring importance, which has, somewhat paradoxically, finally lain to rest the notion that the struggle for free trade was in any way soporific."--Paul Pickering, Journal of British Studies "[A] fascinating book, wide ranging, detailed, well organized, and written in an engaging style."-- American Historical Review "In Free Trade Nation Frank Trentmann brilliantly reconstructs the story of the Edwardian peak of popular enthusiasm for Free Trade in Britain...and the rapid dissolution of the secular religion of Free Trade in the post-1914 world.... the real innovative weight of this volume lies in providing the most thorough and lucid exploration we have of the erosion of the free trade consensus after 1914.... the novelty of this account lies in its pioneering attempt to turn the attention of political historians away from elections and parties towards an understanding of consumption and citizenship as central to the nature of political culture in twentieth-century Britain.... carefully constructed, engagingly written, finely illustrated, and suitably well-marketed."--Anthony Howe, H-Albion " Free Trade Nation is an important contribution to the cultural and social history of economic debates."-- Revue d'histoire du XIX Siécle " Free Trade Nation is a book of seminal importance. It is also a cracking good read."-- Free Trade League Newsletter "Exhaustively explores Britains Free Trade culture from the nineteenth century to World War I."-- Harvard Magazine "[A] brilliant book...rich and multi-faceted...full of unexpected insights....Not only a product of wonderful scholarship but also great fun... It is essential reading for anyone interested in the development of modern Britain."-- English Historical Review "[T]his impressive study...shows how liberalism turned into social democracy and how the arguments for and against Free Trade both shaped national life and embodied current views regarding man, government and society. After this book, no study of Victorian liberalism can be conducted in quite the same way."-- Contemporary Review "Trentmann...demonstrates the extent to which we can misunderstand early twentieth-century British politics by concentrating on producer interests. His reconstruction of consumer politics is both persuasive and authoritative. His work also has significance for longer-run, revisionist histories of British working-class politics."-- History: Reviews of New Books "An inspired history....Trentmann's book unfolds a dramatic story...[G]ripping..."-- Neue Zuercher Zeitung "Thoughtful and well-researched."--Christopher Harvie, The Independent "A lucid history of free trade in Britain."--David Connett, Sunday Express "This is terrific history that will inspire economists to remember their subject really can arouse passion."--Evan Davis, BBC Economics Editor " Free Trade Nation is history at its best: far-reaching and authoritative, its story of the rise and fall of free trade as a widely-held belief marked by justice, fairness, and peace provocatively refashions the history of early-twentieth-century Britain, reminds us of an age when popular politics exerted real power, and forces us to rethink our contemporary views of consumers, markets and morality."--John Brewer, California Institute of Technology "Here