Amazon.com: The Invention of Comfort: Sensibilities and Design in Early Modern Britain and Early America (9780801873157): John E. Crowley: Books


or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
or
Amazon Prime Free Trial required. Sign up when you check out. Learn More
Sell Back Your Copy
For a $1.50 Gift Card
Trade in
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
The Invention of Comfort: Sensibilities and Design in Early Modern Britain and Early America
 
 
Tell the Publisher!
I'd like to read this book on Kindle

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

The Invention of Comfort: Sensibilities and Design in Early Modern Britain and Early America [Paperback]

John E. Crowley (Author)

Price: $23.95 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
Only 11 left in stock--order soon (more on the way).
Want it delivered Monday, February 27? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Hardcover --  
Paperback $23.95  

Book Description

January 22, 2003

How did our modern ideas of physical well-being originate? As John Crowley demonstrates in The Invention of Comfort, changes in sensible technology owed a great deal to fashion-conscious elites discovering discomfort in surroundings they earlier had felt to be satisfactory.

Written in an engaging style that will appeal to historians and material culture specialists as well as to general readers, this pathbreaking work brings together such disparate topics of analysis as climate, fire, food, clothing, the senses, and anxiety—especially about the night.


Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this book with Let Us Now Praise Famous Men: The American Classic, in Words and Photographs, of Three Tenant Families in the Deep South $11.22

The Invention of Comfort: Sensibilities and Design in Early Modern Britain and Early America + Let Us Now Praise Famous Men: The American Classic, in Words and Photographs, of Three Tenant Families in the Deep South


Editorial Reviews

Review

Riveting... A solid contribution to the literature on the cultural impact of gentility, refinement, and the 'baubles of Britain' in England and its colonial possessions.

(Journal of American History 2003)

Crowley provides a masterly search and survey that no historian of material culture should miss, and every curious reader should consider.

(Eugen Weber Phi Beta Kappa Key Reporter 2004)

A comprehensive and tight study... a valuable contribution to the field, [and] one that is enjoyable to read.

(Emma Hart English Historical Review )

The sheer range of evidence, the interweaving of themes, and the overall strength of the argument mean [this] is an ideal book for specialists and students alike.

(Helen Clifford Journal of Design History )

The Invention of Comfort is an important and thought-provoking book that challenges our understanding of why people live that way they do.

(Marie Morgan New England Quarterly )

This is a powerful book, full of startling information and valuable insights.

(Rhys Isaac American Historical Review )

This is a grand panorama that stretches from medieval times through the antebellum years and covers a geographic area from England to the West Indies and then some. Crowley makes a successful case for the 'invention' of comfort and especially for the cultural influences on that process.

(Molly W. Berger Technology and Culture )

Crowley invites his readers to follow him upon an engaging and meticulously detailed tour of the living spaces of English people.

(Natalie Zacek H-Albion, H-Net Reviews )

Good books cross lines drawn in the sand by others. Terrific books scatter the sand and redraw the lines. John E. Crowley's The Invention of Comfort is one of the latter... A masterful and sweeping interpretation of material culture evidence that asks important historical questions.

(Ann Smart Martin Journal of Social History )

Every page offers interesting detail, worthwhile insights, and useful connections—the illustrations are a major contribution in themselves... It will be a standard reference work in material culture studies.

(Peter Charles HofferUniversity of Georgia, author of The Devil's Disciples and Law and People in Colonial America )

Review

"Every page offers interesting detail, worthwhile insights, and useful connections -- the illustrations are a major contribution in themselves... It will be a standard reference work in material culture studies." -- Peter Charles HofferUniversity of Georgia, author of The Devil's Disciples and Law and People in Colonial America

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details


More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews


There are no customer reviews yet.
Video reviews
Video reviews
Amazon now allows customers to upload product video reviews. Use a webcam or video camera to record and upload reviews to Amazon.



Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
MEDIEVAL DEFINITIONS of domestic amenity gave priority to social status over personal physical comfort. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
open central hearth, axial chimney, architectural priority, propertied households, picturesque aesthetic, slave housing, model cottages, vernacular housing, household amenity, vernacular houses, cottage architecture, artificial illumination, chimney fireplaces, physical amenity, housing culture, smoky chimneys, domestic accommodation, architectural publication, glazed windows, one hearth, mirror makers, propertied families
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
West Indies, Courtesy of the Winterthur Library, New York, New England, South Carolina, Middle Ages, Print Collection, Commodious Comfort, Courtesy of the Lewis Walpole Library, North America, Elegant Options, Great Rebuilding, House Design Books, Mount Vernon, Traditional Architectural Amenity, Colonial Comfort, Healthy Comfort, Massachusetts Bay, Catherine Beecher, Civil Comfort, Convenient Comfort, Decent Comfort, Gendered Comfort, Mansion Houses, North Carolina
New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:




Suggested Tags from Similar Products

 (What's this?)
Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).
 

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums



So You'd Like to...


Create a guide


Look for Similar Items by Category


Look for Similar Items by Subject