Ted Ownby is the author of American Dreams in Mississippi: Consumers, Poverty, & Culture, 1830-1998. He is also the author of Subduing Satan: Religion, Recreation and Manhood in the rural South, 1865-1920. Ted Ownby is a professor at the University of Mississippi, also known as Ole Miss. In the introduction, Ted Ownby states that his book asks whether Mississippi fared well in four dreams: The Dream of Abundance, The Dream of a democracy of Goods, The Dream of freedom of choice, and The Dream of novelty. What exactly is the American dream? The term American dream came from James Adams in his book The Epic of America. In Adam's book he states that the American dream is the dream of a land where everyone has an opportunity to prosper and be equal regardless of ethnic background. There are many ideas of what the American dream stands for. Some known versions of the American dream are to pursue prosperity or to pursue a simple but fulfilling life. In this particular book, the American Dream is the dream of freedom and equality.
Chapter one is titled: Men Buying Cloth, The Limits of Shopping Among Nineteenth-Century Farmers. This particular chapter discusses general stores and the effect that it had on the community.
Chapter two is titled: Wealthy Men, Wealthy Women, and Slaves as Antebellum Consumers. Chapter two is devoted to the purchases of Wealthy Mississippians and slaves. Chapter three is titled: You Don't Want Nothing: Goods, Plantation Labor, and The Meanings of Freedom, 1865-1920s. This chapter addresses whether goods and shopping redefined freedom. These three chapters discuss the power of shopping and the effect that it had on all social classes. .
Chapter four is titled: New Stores and New Shoppers, 1880-1930. This chapter discusses the presence of new stores. This chapter moves from general stores to department stores. In 1929 Mississippi had acquired fifty department stores and one-hundred and thirty three (ready- to-wear) clothing stores (p.