Drawing on sources such as diaries, advice manuals and autobiographies, this work shows how travelling salesmen from the early-18th century to the 1920s shaped the customs of life on the road and helped to develop the modern consumer culture in the United States.

Vividly illustrated, this lively book presents the first in-depth study of the traveling salesman, illuminating his role in American culture from 1830 to 1920. Drawing on letters, diaries, and autobiographies, as well as on literary works by Crane, Dreiser, Lewis, and Miller, Spears examines the impact of the commercial traveler both on the national market economy and on American imagination.