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Ice: From Mixed Drinks to Skating RinksâA Cool History of a Hot Commodity
Maybe someday
27
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
37/100Critics
17/100Scholars
Author:
Amy Brady
Publisher:
G.P. Putnam's Sons
Date:
June 6, 2023
A deep dive into the unexpected and unexplored ways that ice has transformed a nation--from the foods Americans eat, to the sports they play, to the way they live today--and what its future might look like on a swiftly warming planet.
What The Reviewers Say
...a colorful new history of America’s pursuit of crystalline cold.
With Ice, science writer Amy Brady explores a little-known chapter in American business industry, claiming the nation has an 'obsession' with the cold substance. She traces the industry of makng and marketing ice to an erratic, early 19th century entrepreneur, Boston’s Frederic Tudor. The son of wealth had access to a well-stocked icehouse, one of the privileges of upper-class life in northern climes.
Brady found ice to be an untapped subject and did enormous amounts of research to fill in the gaps in its history. Divided into four parts that each focuses on an aspect of ice—obsession, food and drink, ice sports, and the future—Ice outlines how frozen water 'profoundly has shaped the nation’s history and culture.' Commentary from food writers, scientists, physicians and historians are interspersed with historic resources such as newspaper articles, diaries and journals, creating unique connections between the past and present. Historical facts and statistics help contextualize the important role ice has played in events like Prohibition, when breweries pivoted to other business ventures that would make use of their existing ice cellars.
...a wide-ranging, comprehensive tour of places and people associated with our frosty obsession.
