By Jennifer Howard

“I’m sitting on the floor in my mother’s house, surrounded by stuff.” Jennifer Howard’s Clutter starts there and explores our messy relationship with belongings. After spending two hard years clearing her mother’s home following a breakdown, Howard mixes personal struggle with researched history to show how modern life became overloaded with things. She traces the thread from the Industrial Revolution and mail-order catalogs to today’s big-box stores and online shopping, and looks at how clutter links to environmental damage and hoarding. In a time when anything can arrive with a click and tidying shows fill TV, Howard’s clear, sharp book feels urgent.

Dimensions: 5.1”W x 7.4”H

192 pages. Publisher: Arcadia Publishing.