| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 88.3

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| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 88.3 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

From Fireplace to Cookstove: Technology and the Domestic Ideal in America. By Priscilla J. Brewer. (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2000. xxii, 338 pp. $29.95, ISBN 0-8156-0650-8.)

For several decades, some material culture scholars have explored the interstices of everyday life through a distinctive, if peculiar, form of book: the monograph dealing with one type of artifact. Not to be confused with an industry study, these object-centric volumes trace the history of a particular artifact, often drawing on anecdotal evidence. The most successful scholars and writers working in this vein have produced entertaining volumes on commonplace objects such as pencils, zippers, and screwdrivers. But how well an object-centric monograph succeeds depends on the storytelling skills of the author and the editorial attentiveness of the press. At best, the reader is delighted by fun-filled facts that often educate about "small things forgotten." At worst, the reader closes the book pondering the "so what" factor. . . .

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