Refrigeration Nation - A History of Ice, Appliances, and Enterprise in America

How we keep food cold while the house stays warm.
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.

About the author

Jonathan Rees is a professor of history at Colorado State University-Pueblo. He is the author of Industrialization and the Transformation of American Life: A Brief Introduction and Refrigerator.

Product details

• Authors: Jonathan Rees, Jonathan (Professor of History Rees
• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 09.02.2014
• EAN: 9781421411064
• ISBN: 978-1-4214-1106-4
• No. of pages: 248
• Series: Studies in Industry and Society; Studies in Industry and Societ; Studies in Industry and Society; Studies in Industry and Societ
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Natural sciences (general); Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; Social sciences, law, business > Business > Management; USA, SCIENCE / History, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Economic History, HISTORY / United States / General, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural & Social, Economic history, History of Science, Material Culture, United States of America, USA, History of the Americas