Grim Old Days: Jane Brox’s Evolution of Artificial Light

Very recommendable! What were our ancestors struggling with! Ingratitude is the reward of the world!

"... The portion of the book devoted to the preindustrial era shines a light on just how dark—in the literal sense of the word—the past was. ...

Indeed, “before the seventeenth century, street lighting was almost nonexistent everywhere in the world. . . . Renaissance Florence had no streetlights, nor did imperial Rome.” Brox quotes historian Jérôme Carcopino describing nightfall in Ancient Rome: “Night fell over the city like the shadow of a great danger. Everyone fled to his home, shut himself in, and barricaded the entrance. The shops fell silent, safety chains were drawn across . . . the doors.” Centuries later, little had changed. In early modern Europe, “Almost everyone gladly left the streets to the thieves, the scurrying of rodents, and the lingering smells of the day—rotting food, old straw, and horses’ dung.” ..."

Grim Old Days: Jane Brox’s Evolution of Artificial Light "The next time you flick a light switch and flood a room with light, reflect on the unsteady glow of tallow candles that once illuminated the world."