Includes bibliographical references (pages 368-393) and index

Can't leave home without it: consumer credit and debt in American society -- The U.S. triangle of debt: erecting the pillars of the U.S. debtor society -- Crossroads of debt: Citicorp and the ascension of the consumer credit card -- Charging for credit (or points or cash): convenience users and the ideology of the moral divide -- Life on the financial edge: maxed out, surfing, and playing the credit card shuffle -- Credit cards on campus: the social consequences of student credit dependency -- Where Ace is not a hardware store: fringe banking and the expansion of second-tier financial services -- The credit card hustle: the commercial credit crunch and the crisis of small business -- Aging into debt: crisis or convenience in the golden years? -- Didn't leave home without it: future trends of the credit card nation

Credit Card Nation is the first comprehensive look at an ongoing social and economic crisis-America's escalting dependence on credit. By locating consumer debt within the context of corporate and governmental debt