Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 25. Chapters: Cajun Pawn Stars, Cash America International, Cebuana Lhuillier Pawnshop, Dollar Financial Group, EZCorp, Hardcore Pawn, History of pawnbroking, Mount of piety, National Pawnbrokers Association, Tambunting Pawnshop. Excerpt: Pawn Stars is an American reality television series, shown on History, and produced by Leftfield Pictures. The series is filmed in Las Vegas, Nevada, where it chronicles the daily activities at the World Famous Gold & Silver Pawn Shop, a 24-hour family business operated by patriarch Richard "Old Man" Harrison, his son Rick Harrison, who opened the shop with his father in 1988, Rick's son Corey "Big Hoss" Harrison, who has worked there since childhood, and Corey's childhood friend, Austin "Chumlee" Russell. The show, which became the network's highest rated show, and the No. 2 reality show behind Jersey Shore, debuted on July 26, 2009. Reruns can be seen on History as well as its sister network Lifetime, which added the show in December 2010. The series depicts the staff's interactions with customers, who bring in a variety of artifacts to sell or pawn and who are shown haggling over the price and discussing its historical background, with narration provided by the Harrisons and occasionally Chumlee. The series also follows the interpersonal conflicts among the cast. One reviewer referencing these conflicts described the show as a version of Antiques Roadshow "hijacked by American Chopper's" Teutul family. TV Guide has offered a similar description, calling the show "one part Antiques Roadshow, a pinch of LA Ink and a dash of COPS." Numerous local experts in a variety of fields also regularly appear to appraise the items being sold or pawned, two of whom having gone on to their own spinoff programs. Antique restorer/metal artist Rick Dale is the star of the series' first spin-off American...

質屋という空間を舞台に、歴史と人間の欲望が交錯する様を多角的に捉えた一冊です。中世の救済機関から現代の巨大企業までを辿る記述は、モノに宿る記憶と価値の変遷を描き出す叙事詩そのものです。人類が如何に価値を定義してきたかという哲学的な問いを投げかける点に、本書の圧倒的な真髄があります。 ポーン・スターズ等の映像作品との相乗効果も見事です。映像が駆け引きの熱狂を映し出す一方、テキストは緻密な歴史的背景を補完します。画面上の興奮に知的な深みを与えるこの体験こそが、古びた品々に新たな命を宿らせ、読者の好奇心を極限まで激しく揺さぶるのです。