‘Americanism: Using money you haven’t earned to buy things you don’t need to impress people you don’t like.’

Extract from Welcome to the Circular Economy by Claire Potter, published by Laurence King, price £14.99, on 9 September 2021.

We’ve all heard versions of this quote. In films, books and from the mouths of celebrities and social commentators alike, but this is reportedly the original – from American journalist and humorist Robert Quillen in 1928, at the