The Rise and Fall of American Growth: The U.S. Standard of Living Since the Civil War (The Princeton Economic History of the Western World)
by Robert J. Gordon · 12 Jan 2016 · 1,104pp · 302,176 words
with hand wringers to squeeze the water out of the clothes, requiring human effort no longer required by fully automatic washing machines with their mechanical spinning wash tubs. Whereas washing machines eliminated the previous drudgery of the washboard described in chapter 8, the arrival of the clothes dryer eliminated the tedious task of hanging clothes
Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture
by Ellen Ruppel Shell · 2 Jul 2009 · 387pp · 110,820 words
in hot new colors like avocado green. The media had cast these mechanical marvels as freedom machines, transformers of the dreary into the fabulous. Washing machines banished the drudgery of “washing day”; freezers made the dream of TV dinners come true. To cite but one remarkable example, General Electric ran an advertisement entitled
Roller-Coaster: Europe, 1950-2017
by Ian Kershaw · 29 Aug 2018 · 736pp · 233,366 words
were widespread shortages of food and clothing. Only wealthy families would have such crucial pieces of household equipment, which freed women from regular household drudgery, as a washing machine, or a telephone, a fridge, a car. Even then, few probably possessed a television. The post-war baby-boom generation benefited in their lifetimes