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

Studies in Industry and Society

by Jonathan Rees

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.

Genres: History, Science

248 pages, Hardcover

First published October 3, 2013

Reviews

[Darren Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting history about the ice industry when it was founded up to modern day refrigerators.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

The more things change the more they change and it’s constant. Great read.

[R.J. Gilmour · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although the book promises to be a history of refrigeration in America it really is a study of the American refrigeration business and not about how refrigeration is used in the home.