Ice as a hot commodity? In the days before electric refrigeration, it was exactly that. Laurence Pringle examines the fascinating history of the ice industry, looking at everything from technology that developed and changed across the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (ice elevator anyone?), to labor issues (at least one young woman broke the ice ceiling in the male-dominated field), to economics (from ice as an export to the fact that not every family could afford an ice box). Pringle’s narrative focuses primarily on New England and the East Coast. Rockland Lake, a small, primarily spring-fed lake in New York, was an ice company’s dream—it included a navigable overland route to the Hudson River. From there, the ice could be shipped to New York City, where the coming of the iceman on a hot summer’s day was an event in many neighborhoods. An intriguing range of dynamic visual material accompanies Pringle’s narrative, from advertisements to ice-delivery placards to diagrams of ice tools to photographs of the ice industry in its heyday. Bibliography, source notes, and additional resources round out this cool volume. (Ages 10–14)

Think of a world without cold drinks, ice cream, and frozen foods. Believe it or not, such a world DID exist! Learn all about this fascinating history in this nonfiction book.

In the early 1800s, people began to harvest ice, store it in ways that limited melting, and transport it to homes and businesses. Eventually, almost everyone had an icebox, and a huge, vital ice business grew. In this riveting book, acclaimed writer Laurence Pringle describes the key inventions and ideas that helped the ice business flourish. He points to the many sources of ice throughout the East and Midwest and spotlights Rockland Lake, "the icebox of New York City," to offer a close-up look at the ice business in action. Pringle worked closely with experts and relied on primary documents, including archival photographs, postcards, prints, and drawings, to capture the times when everyone waited for the ice man and his wagon to deliver those precious blocks of ice.