If Walls Could Talk

Starred review from December 1, 2011
This masterful social history illustrates the lessons you could never have learned in school, and with a great deal more entertainment. With inspired precision, historian Worsley (The Courtiers: Splendor and Intrigue in the Georgian Court at Kensington Palace, 2010) entertainingly traces the expansion of the rooms of the house from medieval times to the present. As chief curator at Historic Royal Palaces, the author has opportunities not only to research upper-class habits through the centuries, but also to be able to physically experience the arduous lives of the lower-class men and women who served them. One of the great strengths of her book is the exposure of all levels of society throughout the history of England, with delightful notations of daily life most readers would not ponder: the food they ate, the way they cooked it, the privacy they lacked, the diseases they endured, etc. Just the fact that bathing was out of favor from 1500 to 1750 will make many readers appreciate living in modern times. Many of today's common necessities, such as the toilet, the dishwasher and the kitchen extractor fan, changed daily life in unimaginable ways. Even so, in 1960 only 60 percent of London homes had a refrigerator. The availability of an army of servants to manage a home faded as the opportunities for education and betterment lured the staff away from the scullery and the pantry. This lighthearted approach to the most intimate moments of our lives informs, amuses and titillates. Who could not be enthralled by the history of toilet paper? Anyone who lives in a home with a kitchen, living room, bathroom and bedroom will delight in reading this history of the development of home life.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

January 1, 2012

Was tea once considered a dangerous drink? How often did people bathe hundreds of years ago? With the lack of household privacy during many eras, where did people go to be alone? Worsley (chief curator, Historic Royal Palaces; The Courtiers: Splendor and Intrigue in the Georgian Court at Kensington Palace) explores these and other questions as she looks at four major rooms of the home--bedroom, bathroom, living room, and kitchen. Drawing only from published British history sources, she examines how the uses of these rooms and ways of thinking about them evolved from the medieval era to the modern day in response to technological advances, changing social attitudes, and the constant desire for increased comfort. Worsley's enthusiasm for her subject is apparent, but her organization is somewhat muddled and many of the subjects discussed receive only a cursory glance; this volume, written to accompany a BBC series she hosted for a popular audience, will best please casual readers. VERDICT Full of factoids, but with some small errors, this might serve as a good introduction to those new to the history of houses or the study of material culture, but it lacks citations and will not appeal to more serious readers.--Kathleen McCallister, Univ. of South Carolina Lib., Columbia

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