The Invention of Comfort
Douban
Sensibilities and Design in Early Modern Britain and Early America
John E. Crowley
résumé
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.
contents
Contents:
Preface and Acknowledgments
PART I: TRADITIONAL ARCHITECTURAL AMENITY
Chapter 1. Commodious Comfort: Hall and Hearth, Chamber and Chimney
Chapter 2. Civil Comfort: Mansion Houses
Chapter 3. Colonial Comfort: Vernacular and Elegant Options
PART II: FROM LUXURY TO COMFORT
Chapter 4. Decent Comfort: Candles and Mirrors
Chapter 5. Convenient Comfort: Political Economy
Chapter 6. Enlightened Comfort: Stoves and Lamps
PART III: THE LANDSCAPE OF COMFORT
Chapter 7. Picturesque Comfort: The Cottage
Chapter 8. Healthy Comfort: The Piazza
Chapter 9. Gendered Comfort: House Design Books
Conclusion
Notes
