Rachel S. Gross's "Shopping All the Way to the Woods"

Rachel S. Gross is an environmental and cultural historian of the modern U.S. and an assistant professor of history at the University of Colorado Denver.

She applied the “Page 99 Test” to her new book, Shopping All the Way to the Woods: How the Outdoor Industry Sold Nature to America, and reported the following:

Page 99 of Shopping All the Way to the Woods plants us in the post-World War II era when army navy stores were the main way that Americans shopping for outdoor activities found gear. Americans who bought army surplus clothing and equipment liked the thrill of the shopping experience where they searched through piles of junk to find well-priced treasures. Radio and television shows of the 1950s captured the war surplus shop experience by poking fun at the shoppers who encountered unexpected, and sometimes useless inventory.

Page 99 captures three important insights from the book, so the test works reasonably well. First, it shows what the experience of acquiring outdoor gear looked like—messy, fun, sometimes even a little silly. Second, it highlights the theme of authenticity, which was crucial to many outdoor consumers not just in the 1950s but throughout the century. Finally, the page situates readers in a longer arc of twentieth century commercial transformations: products that came from the military were transitioning to a civilian market.

Nonetheless, the page does not capture the book’s larger argument about the construction of the outdoor identity. Nor does it point to the products, especially down sleeping bags and tents, that many readers will enjoy in this chapter on “Pup Tents and Mummy Bags: Spreading Surplus to the Masses.”

Visit Rachel S. Gross's website.

--Marshal Zeringue