Buckskin: The origins of outdoor style -- A green respite: Creating the outdoor store -- Buck Skein(tm): Trademarking the American past -- Feather foam and pocket stoves: The making of a scientific industry -- Pup tents and mummy bags: Spreading surplus to the masses -- Lederhosen and Tyrolean hats: Forging community with brands -- Rucksack revolution: The supermarket of the outdoors -- Core-Tex and do-it-yourself kits: Corporatizing the outdoors -- Bean boots and puffy jackets: Lifestyle and America's outdoor heritage.
Summary:
No escape to nature is complete without a trip to an outdoor recreational store or a browse through online offerings. This is the irony of the American outdoor experience: visiting wild spaces supposedly untouched by capitalism first requires shopping. With consumers spending billions of dollars on clothing and equipment each year as they seek out nature, the American outdoor sector grew over the past 150 years from a small collection of outfitters to an industry contributing more than 2 percent of the nation's economic output.
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