At a time when polite society wouldn't dream of hanging women's and men's underwear on the same clothesline, a Minnesota manufacturer dared to advertise the unmentionable. "Don't Say Underwear," crowed the ads, "Say Munsingwear " Consumers of the 1890s responded. The company's wildly popular "itchless" union suits represented a truly revolutionary advance.

When fashion and central heating changed the market, Munsingwear offered silk and nylon stockings, "stretchy-seat" briefs for men, and the essential Foundettes, the Spanx of its generation. Erotic ads showed underwear-clad women (or men) in provocative poses with promising captions: "Half-pint pants," "Next Best to Nothing." And by the 1940s and '50s, Munsingwear was selling risque lingerie in its famous Holly wood Vassarette line, including bullet bras, lacey merry widows, chiffon peignoirs, and silk sleepwear.

Beyond these playful and suggestive ad campaigns, author Susan Marks also provides a fascinating view of the company's labor relations, from sweatshop conditions in the 1880s to the changed world of the 1920s, when Munsingwear provided free medical care, a library, teams and clubs, and Americanization classes.

Richly illustrated, In the Mood for Munsingwear is not just the history of a company but an intimate look at the changing mores of America.

Susan Marks is a freelance writer, producer, and director and the author of Finding Betty Crocker: The Secret Life of America's First Lady of Food.

Minnesota’s historical past was defined by its remarkable natural resources and the exploits of early settlers. From the fur trade and the founding of Fort Snelling, to harnessing the power of the Mississippi River as a means to fuel logging and milling industries, pioneering Minnesotans embraced everything that the sprawling prairies, rich farmlands, and more than 10,000 lakes offered. Boomtowns and main streets sprang up and were connected to the thriving metropolises of Minneapolis and St. Paul through a great labyrinth of rivers, railways, and roads. From the time photographers first started pointing their cameras in the direction of Minnesota’s land and people, moments of time in state history began to be captured and preserved. With a selection of fine historic images from her best-selling book Historic Photos of Minnesota, Susan Marks provides a valuable and revealing historical retrospective on the growth and development of the state. The archival images collected in Remembering Minnesota offer unique insights into the state’s not-so-distant past. Spanning nearly 100 years in more than 100 images, this book documents everyday lives and significant events in the Minnesota of yesteryear.

Minnesota’s past is defined by its remarkable natural resources, and shaped by its native peoples and early settlers. From the fur trade and the establishment of Fort Snelling, to harnessing the power of the Mississippi River as a means to fuel emergent logging and milling industries, Minnesota’s history is that of a land like no other. Pioneering Minnesotans embraced everything that the sprawling prairies, rich farmlands, and more than 10,000 lakes offered. Boomtowns and small towns sprang up and were connected to the thriving metropolises of Minneapolis and St. Paul through a great labyrinth of railways. From the time photographers first started pointing their cameras in the direction of Minnesota’s land and people, crystallized moments from the state’s history were captured, and stories preserved. The archival images collected in Historic Photos of Minnesota offer unique insights into the state’s not-so-distant past. Spanning more than 100 years, this book documents everyday lives and significant events in Minnesota’s extraordinary history.

IN 1945, FORTUNE MAGAZINE named Betty Crocker the second most popular American woman, right behind Eleanor Roosevelt, and dubbed Betty America's First Lady of Food. Not bad for a gal who never actually existed. "Born" in 1921 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to proud corporate parents, Betty Crocker has grown, over eight decades, into one of the most successful branding campaigns the world has ever known. Now, at long last, she has her own biography. Finding Betty Crocker draws on six years of research plus an unprecedented look into the General Mills archives to reveal how a fictitious spokesperson was enthusiastically welcomed into kitchens and shopping carts across the nation. The Washburn Crosby Company (one of the forerunners to General Mills) chose the cheery all-American "Betty" as a first name and paired it with Crocker, after William Crocker, a well-loved company director. Betty was to be the newest member of the Home Service Department, where she would be a "friend" to consumers in search of advice on baking -- and, in an unexpected twist, their personal lives. Soon Betty Crocker had her own national radio show, which, during the Great Depression and World War II, broadcast money-saving recipes, rationing tips, and messages of hope. Over 700,000 women joined Betty's wartime Home Legion program, while more than one million women -- and men -- registered for the Betty Crocker Cooking School of the Air during its twenty-seven-year run. At the height of Betty Crocker's popularity in the 1940s, she received as many as four to five thousand letters daily, care of General Mills. When her first full-scale cookbook, Betty Crocker's Picture Cook Book, or "Big Red," as it is affectionately known, was released in 1950, first-year sales rivaled those of the Bible. Today, over two hundred products bear her name, along with thousands of recipe booklets and cookbooks, an interactive website, and a newspaper column. What is it about Betty? In answering the question of why everyone was buying what she was selling, author Susan Marks offers an entertaining, charming, and utterly unique look -- through words and images -- at an American icon situated between profound symbolism and classic kitchen kitsch.

Against expectations that the turn away from state socialism would likewise initiate a turn away from Marxist thought, recent years have seen a resurgence of interest in Marxism and its reassessment by a new generation of theorists. This 2008 book pursues that interest with specific reference to international law. It presents a sustained and fascinating exploration of the pertinence of Marxist ideas, concepts and analytical practices for international legal enquiry from a range of angles. Essays consider the relationship between Marxism and critical approaches to international law, the legacy of Soviet international legal theory, the bearing of Marxism for the analysis of international trade law and human rights, and the significance for international legal enquiry of such Marxist concepts as the commodity, praxis and exploitation.

Against expectations that the turn away from state socialism would likewise initiate a turn away from Marxist thought, recent years have seen a resurgence of interest in Marxism and its reassessment by a new generation of theorists. This book pursues that interest with specific reference to international law. It presents a sustained and ground-breaking exploration of the pertinence of Marxist ideas, concepts and analytical practices for international legal enquiry from a range of angles. Essays consider the relationship between Marxism and critical approaches to international law, the legacy of Soviet international legal theory, the bearing of Marxism for the analysis of international trade law and human rights, and the significance for international legal enquiry of such Marxist concepts as the commodity, praxis and exploitation.

This book presents a wide-ranging survey of the scope and significance of international human rights law. Arranged thematically in alphabetical format, it side-steps the traditional categories of human rights law, to investigate rights in the specific contexts in which they are invoked, debated, and considered. This book is an informative and accessible guide to key issues confronting international human rights law today. Each entry introduces key concepts, norms, and debates.

The book examines current debates about the emergence of an international legal norm of democratic governance and also considers some of the wider theoretical issues to which those debates give rise. It asks should international law seek to promote democratic political arrangements? If so, on what basis, and using which of the many competing conceptions of democracy?

The book examines current debates about the emergence of an international legal norm of democratic governance and also considers some of the wider theoretical issues to which those debates give rise. It asks should international law seek to promote democratic political arrangements? If so, on what basis, and using which of the many competing conceptions of democracy?

This book is concerned with the history of the idea of human rights. It offers a fresh approach that puts aside familiar questions such as 'Where do human rights come from?' and 'When did human rights begin?' for the sake of looking into connections between debates about the rights of man and developments within the history of capitalism. The focus is on England, where, at the end of the eighteenth century, a heated controversy over the rights of man coincided with the final enclosure of common lands and the momentous changes associated with early industrialisation. Tracking back still further to sixteenth- and seventeenth-century writing about dispossession, resistance and rights, the book reveals a forgotten tradition of thought about central issues in human rights, with profound implications for their prospects in the world today.