To be American is to hoard, to collect. But what if that wasnt a bad thing? Emily Mesters American Bulk asks readers to see our national consumer obsession as more than a modern scourgeto consider consumption a complex character in a larger story of capitalism, imperialism and technology. In sharply witty prose, Mester details how a seasonal stint at Ulta Beauty reveals the insidious performance of retail sales, how Yelp reviews highlight the lengths Americans go to curate their personal ephemera, and why they cant help but find joy at Costco. In a stark reexamination of diet culture and fatness, Mester recounts her teenage summer at fat camp and the liberatory body neutrality that surrounded her. And in Storm Lake, Iowa, Mester excavates her grandmothers abandoned hoard, among other discoveries about her own familys history. American Bulk asks us to regard consumption not with guilt but with grace and empathy.
