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More copies of this ISBN:This title in other formats:Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping Houseby Cheryl Mendelson
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:Home Comforts is something new. For the first time in nearly a century, a sole author has written a comprehensive book about housekeeping. This is not a dry how-to manual, nor a collection of odd tips and hints, a cleaning book, a history book, or an arid encyclopedia compiled by a committee or an institute. Home Comforts is a readable explanation for both beginners and experts of all the domestic arts — choosing fabrics, keeping the piano in tune, caring for books, making a good fire in the fireplace and avoiding chimney fires, ironing and folding, setting up a good reading light, keeping surfaces free of food pathogens, and everything else that modern people might want to do for themselves in their homes. But this reliable and thorough book on the practicalities of housekeeping is also an argument for the importance of private life and the comforts offered by housekeeping. Cheryl Mendelson is a philosopher, lawyer, sometime professor, and a homemaker, wife, and mother. Home Comforts is based on her domestic education, which she acquired while growing up on a farm in the hills of Greene County, in southwestern Pennsylvania, from her grandmothers, aunts, and mother. Learning from the distinct domestic styles of her native Appalachian relatives and her Italian immigrant relatives, she appreciated early on how important domestic customs are to a sense of comfort and identity in life. She writes out of love and respect for her subject, and hopes to inspire others to develop the affection and respect for home life and housework she was fortunate to have learned. Mendelson addresses the meanings as well as the methods of housekeeping with a keen sense of the history and values involved. The result is a warm, good-humored, engagingly written book with a message and a point of view, one that is overflowing with useful reflections and information. The clarity, breadth, and depth of the information collected here are unparalleled. You can read Home Comforts for thoughtful entertainment or use its ample index to help you find the answers to practical domestic questions. There is nothing quite like it. Among this book's unique features: · A skeptical discussion of the excessive use of disinfectants in the home. · How to iron a dress shirt and how to fold sheets. · How to make up a bed with hospital corners. · How to do all basic sewing stitches. · How to choose proper sizes for sheets, tablecloths, and other household linens. · How to set the table for informal and formal meals. · Expert recommendations for safe food storage. · The most exhaustive and reliable information on fabrics, textile fibers, and their laundering, drying, and other care that exists for nonprofessionals. · A thorough explanation of care labels and why and how you should often (carefully) disregard them. · Housekeeping guidelines for people with pets or with allergies. · What to do about dust mites. · How to clean and care for wood, china and crystal, jewelry, ceramic tile, metals, and more. · Guides to stain and spot removal. · Extensive recommendations for improving home safety. · A summary of laws applicable to the home, including privacy, accident liability, contracts, and domestic employees.· · 200 Elegant, Clear Drawings · Review:Witold Rybczynskiauthor of A Clearing in the Distance, Home, and City LifeCheryl Mendelson knows the secret of transforming a house into a home. This extraordinary book is to be read for its wise counsel, its authoritative advice, and its illuminating insights into the management of the domestic realm. As if that were not enough, it is beautifully written. Review:Elizabeth Fox-Genoveseauthor of Feminism Is Not the Story of My Life and Feminism Without IllusionsA treasure trove of invaluable information, a delight to read, a marvel of thoughtful common sense, Home Comforts is all this and more. Recent changes in women's lives and expectations have tended to relegate keeping house to the realm of servant's work — the epitome of what no self-respecting woman (or man) would choose to do. In this entrancing book, Cheryl Mendelson restores keeping house to its rightful place as the custodian of the peace, order, comfort, and sanity of our lives, simultaneously instructing us in how to do it well and in why doing it matters so much. And in so doing, she helps to restore dignity, value, and craft to the work that creates and sustains the private space that nourishes our humanity. Synopsis:Home Comforts is something new. For the first time in nearly a century, a sole author has written a comprehensive book about housekeeping. This is not a dry how-to manual, nor a collection of odd tips and hints, a cleaning book, a history book, or an arid encyclopedia compiled by a committee or an institute. Home Comforts is a readable explanation for both beginners and experts of all the domestic arts — choosing fabrics, keeping the piano in tune, caring for books, making a good fire in the fireplace and avoiding chimney fires, ironing and folding, setting up a good reading light, keeping surfaces free of food pathogens, and everything else that modern people might want to do for themselves in their homes. But this reliable and thorough book on the practicalities of housekeeping is also an argument for the importance of private life and the comforts offered by housekeeping.<P>Cheryl Mendelson is a philosopher, lawyer, sometime professor, and a homemaker, wife, and mother. Home Comforts is based on her domestic education, which she acquired while growing up on a farm in the hills of Greene County, in southwestern Pennsylvania, from her grandmothers, aunts, and mother. Learning from the distinct domestic styles of her native Appalachian relatives and her Italian immigrant relatives, she appreciated early on how important domestic customs are to a sense of comfort and identity in life. She writes out of love and respect for her subject, and hopes to inspire others to develop the affection and respect for home life and housework she was fortunate to have learned.<P>Mendelson addresses the meanings as well as the methods of housekeeping with a keen sense of the history and values involved.The result is a warm, good-humored, engagingly written book with a message and a point of view, one that is overflowing with useful reflections and information. The clarity, breadth, and depth of the information collected here are unparalleled. You can read Home Comforts f Description:Includes bibliographical references (p. [847]-855) and index. About the AuthorCheryl Mendelson received her Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Rochester and her J.D. from Harvard Law School. She has practiced law in New York City and has taught philosophy at Purdue and Columbia Universities. She lives in New York City with her husband and son. Table of ContentsContents Preface BEGINNINGS 1 My Secret Life 2 Easing into a Routine 3 Neatening FOOD 4 The Whys and Wherefores of Home Cooking 5 Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner 6 Serving Meals 7 Stimulating Beverages 8 The Center of a Dwelling 9 Kitchen Culture 10 To Market, to Market 11 Cold Comfort 12 Bread and Honey 13 Safe Food CLOTH 14 The Fabric of Your Home 15 Transformations 16 The Natural Fibers 17 The Man-Made Fibers and Blends 18 Fabrics That Work 19 Carefully Disregarding Care Labels 20 Gathering, Storing, and Sorting Laundry 21 Laundering 22 Drying the Laundry 23 Ironing 24 Folding Clothes and Linens 25 How to Launder Tricky Items 26 Common Laundry Mishaps and Problems 27 Sanitizing the Laundry 28 Removing Stains from Fabrics CLEANLINESS 29 The Air in Your Castle 30 Peaceful Coexistence with Microbes 31 The Chemistry of Household Cleaning 32 Aprons, Rags, and Mops 33 Dust and Dust Mites 34 Vacuuming, Sweeping, and Dusting 35 Textile Furnishings 36 Floors and Furniture of Wood and Woodlike Materials 37 Resilient Floors 38 Ceramic Tile 39 Stone 40 Man-Made Solid Surfaces and Other Plastics 41 Bathrooms 42 Pipes and Drains 43 Walls, Ceilings, Woodwork, and Windows 44 China and Crystal 45 Metals 46 Caring for Jewelry DAILY LIFE 47 Kindly Light 48 Fireplaces 49 Some Quiet Occupations 50 Sewing 51 Caring for Books 52 Music 53 Images and Recordings 54 Home Offices and Computers 55 Pets SLEEP 56 The Cave of Nakedness 57 Beds and Bedding 58 Closets for Clothes and Linens SAFE SHELTER 59 Being Prepared 60 Fire 61 Electrical Safety 62 Slips and Falls 63 Further Miscellaneous Safety Rules 64 Poisons, Hazardous Substances, and Proper Disposal of Hazardous Household Wastes 65 Additional Safety Measures for Children FORMALITIES 66 Understanding Your Castle 67 Too Late to Say You?re Sorry 68 Promises, Promises 69 Domestic Employment Laws 70 Working with Household Help 71 Insurance 72 Fond Records NOTES ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND SOURCES INDEX PREFACE What Our Readers Are SayingAdd a comment for a chance to win!
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