Summary
BRYSON LEADS OFF his chapter on the drawing room with a discussion of the words "comfort" and "comfortable." [...] 1770, he writes, the idea of being comfortable at home was so unfamiliar that no word existed for the condition. [...] Bryson notes that the British started getting (he doesn't say when) walnut from Virginia, tulipwood from the Carolinas, and teak from Asia. Because At Home is about various rooms in the home, not all of it is about technological change.
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Home Economics
Home Economics Bill Bryson. At Home: A Short History of Private Life. Doubleday. 497 Pages. $28.95
HAVE LONG ENJOYED Bill Bryson's books on travel. He has a rare ability to both entertain his readers, often with side-splitting humor, and get them interested in the history of the places he travels. My favorite, in part because of the humor, is In a Sunburned Country, his book on Australia. But if I were to judge his books solely on the importance of the history he uncovers, my favorite, by far, would be his latest, At Home: A Short History of Private Life.Bryson has pulled...See the full content of this document
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