# Shopping All the Way to the Woods with Rachel Gross

Rachel Gross discussed her book “Shopping All the Way to the Woods: How the Outdoor Industry Sold Nature to America” on the surprising military origins of your favorite outdoor gear. Gross is an environmental, business and cultural historian of the modern U.S. and an assistant professor of history at the University of Colorado Denver. Her book argues that in making Americans into consumers of the outdoors, the outdoor retail industry also shaped the identity of Americans writ large. For her research, Gross used the papers of Georges F. Doriot in the Library to understand the critical role played by the military surplus industry in the creation of the modern outdoor industry. The French-born Doriot served in the U.S. Army in the quartermaster corps during World War II and oversaw procurement for the Army. In her talk, Gross discussed how the quartermaster corps developed the iconic Army M-1943 Field Jacket that introduced millions of Americans to the concept of layering for outdoor clothing.

- Kind: Talk
- Year: 2025
- Runtime: 58 min
- By: Sheu, Sherri
- Archive: [Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/item/video-10672/)
- Licence or status: Rights statement at the Library of Congress (as the archive states it)
- Credit: Library of Congress
- Who can watch: Teens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/loc/video-10672?play=1)