Co-sponsored by the MPL and the Medford Historical Society and Museum.

Wednesday, March 17: At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson

Bill Bryson and his family live in a Victorian parsonage in a part of England where nothing of any great significance has happened since the Romans decamped. Yet one day, he began to consider how very little he knew about the ordinary things of life as he found it in that comfortable home. To remedy this, he formed the idea of journeying about his house from room to room to “write a history of the world without leaving home.” The bathroom provides the occasion for a history of hygiene; the bedroom, sex, death, and sleep; the kitchen, nutrition and the spice trade; and so on, as Bryson shows how each has figured in the evolution of private life. Whatever happens in the world, he demonstrates, ends up in our house, in the paint and the pipes and the pillows and every item of furniture.

Discussion leader: Kathleen Kane

Please go to www.medfordhistorical.org/events page to register.

The event is co-sponsored by the Medford Historical Society & Museum and the Friends of the Medford Public Library. It will be presented on Zoom and you must register on Eventbrite in advance. Books for each session will be available at the Library at the beginning of the previous month. Call the Library at 781-395-7950 to have a copy checked out to you for no-contact pickup or if you need assistance registering.