{"product_id":"zipper-robert-d-friedel-9780393313659","title":"Zipper: An Exploration in Novelty","description":"It is almost impossible to imagine modern life without this device; yet for the first thirty years or so, from its patent in the late nineteenth century, it represented no real advantage over traditional fasteners like the hook-and-eye or the old-fashioned button. The zipper was mechanically awkward, liable to rust, liable to fail (i.e., snag or burst open), and so expensive that it doubled the retail price of a skirt or a pair of pants. But from the beginning the zipper had an allure, a mystery, a kind of sex appeal that would be echoed in songs, poems, and popular novels.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Robert Friedel has written a fascinating history--full of strange twists, paradoxes, and interesting characters--of this signature gadget of the twentieth century. Inventor Whitcomb Judson (whose efforts lay mostly in patenting a doomed undertaking known as the Pneumatic Streetcar) gave the zipper life; businessman Colonel Lewis Walker had the capital and the faith to back it for forty years; and cultural icons such as Marlon Brando, Erica Jong, and the Rolling Stones helped to turn it into a symbol for sexuality and style.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Not just the story of a distinctive technology, \u003cem\u003eZipper\u003c\/em\u003e is an entertaining, informative examination of how new things become part of our daily lives, shaping how we think and act.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Robert Friedel\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0393313654\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780393313659\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e W. W. Norton \u0026amp; Company\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 03\/01\/1996\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 306\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.84lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.26h x 5.56w x 0.94d","brand":"Robert Friedel","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":44119659806975,"sku":"9780393313659","price":22.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_df4e585b-2997-4a31-8cd0-35993da33164.jpg?v=1687410328","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/zipper-robert-d-friedel-9780393313659","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}