Wendy A. Woloson, "Crap: A History of Cheap Stuff in America" (U Chicago Press, 2020)
New Books in Critical Theory
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The History of Gadgets
Gadgets are for the most part fairly useless, but their promise is that they will make our labor to do a certain thing less onerous. But the thing with gadgets is that they often create more labor. Often they don't work and or they create more labor for us because say they're hard to clean or difficult to put together. And so one of the crucial things about gadgets is the demonstration. They need to be explained. I have to admit that I love watching infomercials for,. you know, things like the garden weasel and the, you know, copper coated nonstick frying pans which won't melt cheese.
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