Join journalist and historian, Amy Brady; and author, Tajja Isen, for a conversation about Brady’s new book,”Ice: From Mixed Drinks to Skating Rinks—a Cool History of a Hot Commodity.” They’ll dive into the unexpected ways that ice has transformed America –from ice in drinks, to sports and food storage to medical uses. Amy and Tajja will explore America’s obsession with ice and its future on a warming planet.
Registration is required.
About the book Ice: From Mixed Drinks to Skating Rinks—A Cool History of a Hot Commodity
“In Ice, journalist and historian Amy Brady shares the strange and storied two-hundred-year-old history of ice in America: from the introduction of mixed drinks “on the rocks,” to the nation’s first-ever indoor ice rink, to how delicacies like ice creams and iced tea revolutionized our palates, to the ubiquitous ice machine in every motel across the US. But Ice doesn’t end in the past. Brady also explores the surprising present-day uses of ice in sports, medicine, and sustainable energy—including cutting-edge cryotherapy breast-cancer treatments and new refrigerator technologies that may prove to be more energy efficient—underscoring how precious this commodity is, especially in an age of climate change.”
About the authors:
Amy Brady is the executive director of Orion magazine and co-editor of The World as We Knew It: Dispatches from a Changing Climate. Brady has published widely on how the climate crisis continues to influence art and culture and has made appearances on the BBC, NPR, and PBS. She holds a PhD in literature and American studies and has won writing and research awards from the National Science Foundation, the Bread Loaf Environmental Writers’ Conference, and the Library of Congress.
Tajja Isen is the author of the essay collection Some of My Best Friends, named a Best Book of the Year by outlets including Electric Literature, The Globe and Mail, and CBC Books. She is the co-editor of the anthology The World as We Knew It: Dispatches from a Changing Climate and has also edited for Catapult and The Walrus. Her writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Time, Vulture, and elsewhere. She lives in Brooklyn.
Copies of the authors’ books are available for purchase through Porter Square Books:
Ice: From Mixed Drinks to Skating Rinks–a Cool History of a Hot Commodity, by Amy Brady
The World as We Knew it: Dispatches from a Changing Climate, Edited by Amy Brady and Tajja Isen
Some of My Best Friends: Essays on Lip Service by Tajja Isen
Presented in partnership with the Town of Lexington Sustainability and Lexington Climate Action Network (LexCAN).
This program is made possible by the generous donors to the Cary Library Foundation.