Perhaps no other artifact of our living habitat has had the enduring cultural significance of the ever-present chair, unconsciously yet forcefully shaping the social and physical dimensions of our lives. Tracing the varied history of the chair as we know it from its crudest beginnings in the Neolithic Age up through the modern ergonomic office, Galen Cranz uses anecdotes, literary references, and famous designs to document our ongoing love affair with the chair -- despite its potentially harmful effects on our bodies.

Cranz skillfully reveals how the chair's evolution in Western society has been governed not by a quest for comfort or practicality, but by the designation of status -- between lord and subject, man and woman, boss and employee. Part social commentary, part design history, and part manifesto for a new way of living, this book brings a critical and delightfully astute eye to the place where we spend most of our waking lives.