{"product_id":"zipper-an-exploration-in-novelty-reprint-0393313654","title":"Zipper: An Exploration in Novelty (Reprint)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eISBN:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0393313654\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/strong\u003e Friedel, Robert D.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCondition:\u003c\/strong\u003e New\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe story of the zipper is the triumph of an ingenious novelty over the practical world. It is almost impossible to imagine modern life without this device; yet for the first thirty years or so, from its patent in the late nineteenth century, it represented no real advantage over traditional fasteners like the hook-and-eye or the old-fashioned button. The zipper was mechanically awkward, liable to rust, liable to fail (i.e., snag or burst open), and so expensive that it doubled the retail price of a skirt or a pair of pants. But from the beginning the zipper had an allure, a mystery, a kind of sex appeal that would be echoed in songs, poems, and popular novels.Robert Friedel has written a fascinating history-full of strange twists, paradoxes, and interesting characters-of this signature gadget of the twentieth century. Inventor Whitcomb Judson (whose efforts lay mostly in patenting a doomed undertaking known as the Pneumatic Streetcar) gave the zipper life; businessman Colonel Lewis Walker had the capital and the faith to back it for forty years; and cultural icons such as Marlon Brando, Erica Jong, and the Rolling Stones helped to turn it into a symbol for sexuality and style.Not just the story of a distinctive technology, Zipper is an entertaining, informative examination of how new things become part of our daily lives, shaping how we think and act.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Mia Karts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51856018538784,"sku":"NEW0393313654","price":27.94,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0980\/7426\/3840\/files\/717Qv-FU50L.jpg?v=1781545336","url":"https:\/\/miakarts.com\/products\/zipper-an-exploration-in-novelty-reprint-0393313654","provider":"Miakarts Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}