First published in 1919, this fascinating volume provides an overview of the history of the Aetna Insurance Company, beginning with their very first president and policy. A history of the Aetna Insurance Company is arguably a history of modern insurance itself, making this volume a must-read for those with an interest in the topic. Contents include: "Thomas K. Brace, First and Third President", "Section of Original Petition for Aetna Charter", "Original Entry in First Record Book", "Seal of Aetna Insurance Company", "First Aetna Advertisement", "Henry L. Ellsworth, Second President", "Page from Correspondence Book No. I", "Aetna Policy No. I" ,"Aetna Office Building, 1837 to 1867", etc. William George Jordan (1864 - 1928) was an American lecturer, editor, and essayist. He is most famous for his self-help books, especially those on the subject of mental training and cognitive improvement. Other notable works by this author include: "Mental Training" (1894), "The Kingship of Self-Control" (1898), and "The Majesty of Calmness" (1900). Many vintage books such as this are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. We are republishing this volume now in a modern, high-quality edition complete with a specially commissioned new biography of the author.

During the period of America's swiftest industrialization and urban growth, fire struck fear in the hearts of city dwellers as did no other calamity. Before the Civil War, sweeping blazes destroyed more than $200 million in property in the nation's largest cities. Between 1871 and 1906, conflagrations left Chicago, Boston, Baltimore, and San Francisco in ruins. Into the twentieth century, this dynamic hazard intensified as cities grew taller and more populous, confounding those who battled it. Firefighters' death-defying feats captured the popular imagination but too often failed to provide more than symbolic protection. Hundreds of fire insurance companies went bankrupt because they could not adequately deal with the effects of even smaller blazes. Firefighters and fire insurers created a physical and cultural infrastructure whose legacy—in the form of heroic firefighters, insurance policies, building standards, and fire hydrants—lives on in the urban built environment. In Eating Smoke, Mark Tebeau shows how the changing practices of firefighters and fire insurers shaped the built landscape of American cities, the growth of municipal institutions, and the experience of urban life. Drawing on a wealth of fire department and insurance company archives, he contrasts the invention of a heroic culture of firefighters with the rational organizational strategies by fire underwriters. Recognizing the complexity of shifting urban environments and constantly experimenting with tools and tactics, firefighters fought fire ever more aggressively—"eating smoke" when they ventured deep into burning buildings or when they scaled ladders to perform harrowing rescues. In sharp contrast to the manly valor of firefighters, insurers argued that the risk was quantifiable, measurable, and predictable. Underwriters managed hazard with statistics, maps, and trade associations, and they eventually agitated for building codes and other reforms, which cities throughout the nation implemented in the twentieth century. Although they remained icons of heroism, firefighters' cultural and institutional authority slowly diminished. Americans had begun to imagine fire risk as an economic abstraction. By comparing the simple skills employed by firefighters—climbing ladders and manipulating hoses—with the mundane technologies—maps and accounting charts—of insurers, the author demonstrates that the daily routines of both groups were instrumental in making intense urban and industrial expansion a less precarious endeavor.