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British historian Ruth Goodman notes that society has changed dramatically since “we used sand to clean and wood ash to wash dishes,” and some of these transformations have occurred “as a result of new methods of washing dishes.” Her podcast, The Curious History of Your Home, produced by the history-focused network Noiser, explores seemingly mundane aspects of domestic life to uncover their evolution and significance; the episode “Washing the Dishes” looks at the global history of detergents. The podcast begins with a description of a day in 1520 when the kings of England and France gather for a lavish outdoor summit, ending with a joust with 12,000 spectators. Do we hear about the tournament? Nope. “Instead of heading to the lists with the other spectators, let’s follow the servants,” says Goodman. Taking us into an imaginary kitchen, she talks about gold plates and dirty utensils, and hundreds of servants, many of whom literally scrubbed the dishes with sand. She then describes how the history of dishwashing has been shaped by coal fires, whaling, and the World’s Fair. She ends the episode by urging us to remember this the next time we load the dishwasher. “I hope I’ve convinced you that details really do matter,” she concludes with satisfaction. “In the next episode, we’ll explore the amazing history of forks.”
Many of us already spend a great deal of time thinking about the objects in our homes, from a carefully chosen sofa to a heirloom umbrella stand that will stay with us for a lifetime, but Goodman takes such thinking to a whole new level, offering a global perspective that seems to rival geological time. With thirty-one half-hour episodes, Curious History is chock-full of interesting facts and offers something I value in an era of sociopolitical chaos: engagement with detail without the urgency of the news, and escapism without losing our minds. We learn about the practical (ovens, windows, clocks), the conceptual (home security, dinner parties, board games), the animal (cats, pests), the digestive (coffee, beer, toilets). At its core, its subject is life, and how the business of food, sleep, clothing, etc. has shaped human history.
Goodman is the author of several highly acclaimed books, with titles including How to Be a Tudor and How to Be Bad in Elizabethan England: A Guide for Cheaters, Fools, Prostitutes, Cuckolds, Drunks, Liars, Thieves and Braggarts. She has worked extensively as a historical re-enacter at British heritage sites and on television, and clearly enjoys it. In each episode, she begins by recreating a striking scene from distant history or legend – the unearthing of a frozen carpet from the Pazyryk tomb in Siberia, for example, or a Han Dynasty eunuch’s observation of a wasp in a palace garden. She then transports us through time and space, taking us on a journey through domestic innovation. Goodman tells her vivid stories alone, without interviews, field reporting or other conventions of American documentary podcasting. The series is accompanied by a subtle soundtrack; A little music and some subtle effects, like the faint clanking of ice axes in Siberia, help set the tone. Listening to it reminds me of what I love about traveling: the constant reminder that other people are doing things in ways we might never have imagined.
At times, Goodman seems too aware of the allure of her formula. Moments like these can lead to what I call Radiolab syndrome—goddamn it, taken to extremes. In Curious History, this often manifests itself in overemphasis, both in writing and tone. Lights opens on a summer’s day in 1879 in Cantabria, Spain, where local landowner and amateur anthropologist Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola takes his eight-year-old daughter on an exploration. They wander into a cave, where he lights two charcoal lamps and “hands one to Maria, her eyes widening as they focus on the flickering flame,” Goodman says, with the dramatic intensity of a proud narrator gathering around children. Maria rushes forward, finds something, and calls excitedly for her father. “De Sautuola smiles indulgently,” Goodman says, describing how he goes to see “what has fired her imagination.” She continues: “Then he lifts his lamp and there they are. Bison and red deer, boars and horses… De Sautuola is amazed.” These are, it turns out, the first cave paintings ever discovered in Europe—amazing indeed—but we’re here for the lamps. The artists could see into the dark cave, Goodman tells us, because forty thousand years ago “our ancestors realized that if you burned animal fat in a stone vessel, you could get light without much smoke.” From there she moves on to ancient Egypt, Greece
Sourse: newyorker.com
