The Age of Comfort by Joan DeJean is packed with information about the place where surroundings and intellect intersect. DeJean takes the reader on a tour of French history by way of its furniture.
Does comfortable furniture make a man more civilized? The French certainly thought so; and most of Europe agreed with them during the 1700s, a time when everyone but the English wanted to be as French as possible. Does indoor plumbing affect a person's mental state? Undoubtedly. These questions arise as we see the change in the way people express themselves and even view their own bodies depending on the furniture they sit on.
Occasionally dry, but unfailingly interesting, The Age of Comfort is a treat.
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