Refrigeration nation
Subtitle: a history of ice, appliances, and enterprise in America
By: Jonathan Rees
Series: Studies in industry and society; Studies in industry and society
Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press; Johns Hopkins University Press
Published: 2013
Language: eng
Number of pages: 236
ISBN-13: 9781421411064
Subjects: Refrigeration and refrigerating machinery; Cold storage industry; History
Description: Only when the power goes off and food spoils do we truly appreciate how much we rely on refrigerators and freezers. In Refrigeration Nation, Jonathan Rees explores the innovative methods and gadgets that Americans have invented to keep perishable food cold-from cutting river and lake ice and shipping it to consumers for use in their iceboxes to the development of electrically powered equipment that ushered in a new age of convenience and health. As much a history of successful business practices as a history of technology, this book illustrates how refrigeration has changed the everyday lives of Americans and why it remains so important today. Beginning with the natural ice industry in 1806, Rees considers a variety of factors that drove the industry, including the point and product of consumption, issues of transportation, and technological advances. Rees also shows that how we obtain and preserve perishable food is related to our changing relationship with the natural world. He compares how people have used the "cold chain" in America to its use in other countries, offering insight into more than just what we eat. Refrigeration Nation helps explain one small part of who we are as a people.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: The Cold Chain; title: Inventing the Cold Chain, 1806-1880; title: The Long Wait for Mechanical Refrigeration, 1850-1910; title: The Decline of the Natural Ice Industry, 1880-1910; title: Refrigerated Transport Near and Far; title: The Pleasures and Perils of Cold Storage; title: "Who Ever Heard of an American Without an Icebox?"; title: The Early Days of Electric Household Refrigeration; title: The Completion of the Modern Cold Chain, 1930-Present; title: Conclusion: Refrigeration, Capitalism and the Environment.