Books like at home

At Home: A Short History of Private Life is a history of domestic life written by Bill Bryson. It was published in May 2010. The book covers topics of the commerce, architecture, technology and geography that have shaped homes into what they are today, told through a series of "tours" through Bryson's Norfolk rectory that quickly digress into the history of each particular room.

This chapter starts with Joseph Paxton's Crystal Palace at the Great Exhibition of 1851 and all the difficulties and problems needed to overcome when building it. This chapter sets out the main time frame of the book, the 19th century, focusing on the events of 1851. Also he mentions the significant role of the clergy at the time and its gradual decline throughout the next century.