There's more than one way to make a bed, and humans throughout history
have devised every sort they could imagine. From a simple blanket laid
on the ground to elaborately carved four-posters hung with sumptuous
draperies, from a hammock swinging under the stars to a stifling
cupboard bed built into a wall, the ways in which humans have gone about
trying to get a good night's sleep are myriad. This book, illustrated
with some 140 images, takes readers on a lively tour of beds and
sleeping customs over time and around the world.
Beginning with "sleeping low," Carlano and Sumberg show that, whereas in
Europe and North America sleeping on bedding on the floor was the lot of
the poor, in many other parts of the world it has long been a cultural
and aesthetic choice. Beautiful tatami-futon ensembles in Japan,
intricately patterned rattan mats in Borneo, and cozy textile pads,
pillows, and quilts in Turkey have kept people warm and comfortable for
centuries.
Yet "sleeping high," on raised platform beds, started early, too: such
beds are known from archaeological finds and tomb paintings dating to
the fourth century BCE in Egypt. From ancient Greece and Rome, the
narrow, rectangular bed spread into Europe and then to North America,
seeing innumerable elaborations along the way -- not only in the designs
of the bedsteads themselves but also in the styles of bedding that
became integral parts of the sleeping arrangement. In the modern West,
people stowed away Murphy beds in the early 1900s, romped on waterbeds
in the 1970s, and now can buy futuristic beds designed by furniture
artists.
Rounding out the tour, Carlano and Sumberg describe the ways people have
found to sleep safely and comfortably while on the move -- whether the
travelers are full-time nomads sleeping in tents or twentieth-century
tourists in Pullman cars. They devote a chapter to the special beds,
cradles, and cribs designed for infants and young children, and an
appropriately final chapter to the abundance of sleep imagery associated
with death. In short, Sleeping Around offers an informative and
entertaining look at the history of beds and -- under the impetus of
both functional needs and aesthetic tastes -- their ever-changing
designs.
