picture frames
ice great moments in the history of hard cold water
put your mittens on ; youll freeze to death admonish the worlds grandmothers as the temperature plummets . no doubt the arctic explorers today in their gore tex historically in their woolens needed no such instruction . icy climes bring with them the dangers of frostbite but also the poetic beauty of glaciers and ice shelves of ice palaces and aurora borealis . karal ann marling explores these topics and more as she considers the history of hard cold water . br what better place to start than with dessert the pleasure of ice cream on a hot day has been known since the sixteenth century although it wasnt until a few hundred years later that reliable refrigeration made the treat readily available . marling expands her icy explorations to the realm of fiction the ice crossing in uncle toms cabin the frozen wasteland of frankenstein and to the movies and broadway . cities vie for tourists by building shimmering ice palaces to celebrate winter ; explorers compete to reach the poles and not all live to tell the story . the study of ice by a true aficionado yields fascinating insights and may just inspire readers to embrace winter or to make their way to the nearest ice cream shop . br karal ann marling is a professor emerita of art history and american studies at the university of minnesota . she is the author most recently of merry christmas celebrating americas greatest holiday and illusions of eden visions of the american heartland .