The Domestic Revolution: How the Introduction of Coal Into Victorian Homes Changed Everything (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781631497636)

No single invention epitomizes the Victorian era more than the black cast-iron range. Aware that the twenty-first-century has reduced it to a quaint relic, Ruth Goodman was determined to prove that the hot coal stove provided so much more than morning tea: it might even have kick-started the Industrial Revolution. Wielding the wit and passion seen in How to Be a Victorian, Goodman traces the tectonic shift from wood to coal in the mid-sixteenth century--from sooty trials and errors during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I to the totally smog-clouded reign of Queen Victoria. A pattern of innovation emerges as the women stoking these fires also stoked new global industries: from better soap to clean smudges to new ingredients for cooking. Laced with uproarious anecdotes of Goodman's own experience managing a coal-fired household, this fascinating book shines a hot light on the power of domestic necessity.

Author: Ruth Goodman
ISBN-10: 1631497634
ISBN-13: 9781631497636
Publisher: Liveright Publishing Corporation
Language: English
Published: 10/20/2020
Pages: 352
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.30lbs
Size: 9.30h x 6.30w x 1.20d

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 08/31/2020
Kirkus Reviews 09/01/2020
Booklist 09/01/2020 pg. 18
Library Journal 09/01/2020 pg. 78