Fossil Consumerism

Wout Saelens is a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Urban History of the University of Antwerp and the Social History of Capitalism research group of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. His research interests focus on the (early) modern histories of consumption, energy, pollution, political ecology and popular environmentalism.

• List of Illustrations List of Figures List of Tables Preface Introduction Chapter 1. Energy and environment in the early modern Low Countries Chapter 2. The energy revolution comes home Chapter 3. The culture of the home fire Chapter 4. Flows of energy, flows of work in the household Chapter 5. The rise of fossil consumerism Conclusions Notes Bibliography Index

In this carefully researched, historiographically alert, and smoothly written book, Saelens offers a novel look at the triumph of fossil fuels in modern history. In bringing hearths and stoves to center stage, Saelens has expanded the reach of energy history into the home, into everyday life, and into domestic divisions of labor - while injecting energy into the history of consumption. - J.R. McNeill, Georgetown University