FEATURING JENNIFER HOWARD – The American economy is driven by consumerism, by the unending need for people to keep buying stuff in order to boost markets. Where does all that stuff end up? It ends up in our houses, on our sidewalks, and ultimately in our landfills, oceans, and soil. The history of consumerism and how we fill our lives and homes with things we may or may not need is told in a new book Clutter: An Untidy History. 

Jennifer Howard, former contributing editor at the Washington Post and a former senior reporter at the Chronicle of Higher Education, and author of the new book, Clutter: An Untidy History.