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"How did our modern ideas of physical comfort originate? As John E. Crowley demonstrates in The Invention of Comfort, changes in the technology of comfort depended on a fashion-conscious public's being made to feel discomfort with surroundings that they had previously perceived as functionally adequate." "Written in an engaging style that will appeal to historians and material culture specialists as well as to general readers, this work brings together such disparate topics of analysis as climate, fire, food, clothing, the senses, and anxiety - especially about the night. Crowley highlights his arguments with excerpts from historical documents - diaries, travel accounts, politeness manuals, and personal letters - and includes analysis of architectural plans and domestic art (reproduced in the book's many illustrations)."--Jacket