The Domestic Revolution, Ruth Goodman
The Domestic Revolution, Ruth Goodman
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The Domestic Revolution
How the Introduction of Coal into Victorian Homes Changed Everything

Author: Ruth Goodman

Narrator: Jennifer M. Dixon

Unabridged: 11 hr 17 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 11/24/2020


Synopsis

"The queen of living history" (Lucy Worsley) returns with an immersive account of how English women sparked a worldwide revolution—from their own kitchens.

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.

About Ruth Goodman

Ruth Goodman is the author of multiple books on English domestic history, among them How to Be a Victorian and How to Be a Tudor. An historian of British life, she has presented a number of BBC television series, including Tudor Monastery Farm. She lives in England.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Louise

A very interesting account of how and why, starting in the 16th century, coal replaced wood as our main fuel, and how that affected everyone’s lives. Changes included the use of the countryside, since when wood and peat were no longer being used as fuel the land was put to other uses. The kind of fo......more

Goodreads review by Irene

You would think that a 350 page book entirely about the advent of domestic coal usage in the UK during the Victorian era would get a little boring, but not this time! Goodman writes not only about the historical facts, going over detailed records of household goods and how coal became the default fu......more