The Domestic Revolution by Ruth Goodman

 

The Domestic Revolution by Ruth Goodman.

Published 16th April 2020 by Michael O'Mara Books.

From the cover of the book:

A large black cast iron range glowing hot, the kettle steaming on top, provider of everything from bath water and clean socks to morning tea: it's a nostalgic icon of a Victorian way of life. But it is far more than that. In this book, social historian and TV presenter Ruth Goodman tells the story of how the development of the coal-fired domestic range fundamentally changed not just our domestic comforts, but our world.

The revolution began as far back as the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, when London began the switch from wood to coal as its domestic fuel - a full 200 years before any other city. It would be this domestic demand for more coal that would lead to the expansion of mining, engineering, construction and industry: the Domestic Revolution kick-started, pushed and fuelled the Industrial Revolution.

There were other radical shifts. Coal cooking was to change not just how we cooked but what we cooked (causing major swings in diet), how we washed (first our laundry and then our bodies) and how we decorated (spurring the wallpaper industry). It also defined the nature of women's and men's working lives, pushing women more firmly into the domestic sphere. It transformed our landscape and environment (by the time of Elizabeth's death in 1603, London's air was as polluted as that of modern Beijing). Even tea drinking can be brought back to coal in the home, with all its ramifications for the shape of the empire and modern world economics.

Taken together, these shifts in our day-to-day practices started something big, something unprecedented, something that was exported across the globe and helped create the world we live in today.

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I am a huge fan of Ruth Goodman's books. Every single one that I have read has proved to be interesting and educational, while being hugely entertaining at the same time - not an easy feat, dear reader. If you have not come across her books before, I can highly recommend them all, although How to be a Tudor is my favourite, being more than a little obsessed with the Tudors as I am. So I was really looking forward to diving into The Domestic Revolution and seeing what Ruth could teach me once more.

This time, Ruth sets her sights on examining how the introduction of coal into our homes sparked a complete revolution in the way we live, bringing about unprecedented changes that have helped create the world we know today.

She starts by looking at the former reliance on wood as a fuel, including going into detailed explanations of how woodland was managed to supply the demand for heating our homes, cooking our food and a variety of industrial uses for hundreds of years.

Around 1570, London's households began to change to burning coal instead of wood, as it was becoming increasingly more difficult and expensive to proved enough wood for the rising population. In just 30 years, London became a coal-fired city, and this brought about a complete change in not only the way people lived, but also the rural and urban landscapes. 

What seems a simple domestic change in terms of the fuel people used brought about enormous social change, and as is Ruth Goodman's forte she guides the reader through what came next in a way that keeps you glued to the page. Coal not only served to become a new way of heating, but influenced structural home design; the way people interacted with each other within the home; the furnishings and furniture they used; the kind of food they ate and the way they cooked it; and even the way they cleaned their homes and did their laundry. There were also much wider ramifications leading to changes in the rural landscape as the demand for wood decreased; the development of a better transport network to get coal from mining areas to where it was needed; a whole different look and feel to the urban skyline as building design transformed; and even an improved Naval force (bizarre, but true)!

Parts of this book are necessarily information heavy, especially in the first couple of chapters, but they serve a useful purpose in providing a foundation for what comes later, and what comes later is utterly fascinating. Yet again, Ruth Goodman takes a subject and transforms what could be a boring litany of facts into an informative and engrossing account of something that could be considered a trivial domestic alteration by some, but was actually a catalyst for real social change for everyone.

The Domestic Revolution is available to buy now from your favourite book retailer or from Amazon UK here.

Thank you to Michael O'Mara Books for providing me with a copy of this book in return for an honest review and to Kelly Lacey of Love Books Tours for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the author:

For the first time, Ruth Goodman shows how the Industrial Revolution truly began in the kitchen - a revolution run by women.|Told with Ruth's inimitable wit, passion and commitment to revealing the nitty-gritty of life across three centuries of extraordinary change, from the Elizabethan to the Victorian age. 

A TV regular, Ruth has appeared on some of BBC 2's most successful shows, including, Victorian Farm, Edwardian Farm, Wartime Farm, Tudor Monastery Farm, Inside the Food Factory and most recently Full Steam Ahead, as well as being a regular expert presenter on The One Show.

Ruth is also the critically acclaimed author of How to Be a Victorian, How to be a Tudor and How to Behave Badly in Renaissance Britain.