Foul Bodies

Cleanliness in Early America

Kathleen M. Brown

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Paperback

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English

Yale University Press
31 May 2011

History of the Americas; Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900; Social & cultural history; Hygiene

Series: Society and the Sexes in the Modern World

"In colonial times few Americans bathed regularly; by the mid-1800s, a cleanliness “revolution” had begun. Why this change, and what did it signify?

""It is the author's ability to appreciate and represent the almost tactile circumstantiality of life that makes Foul Bodies so special—and so readable.""—Charles E. Rosenberg, author of Our Present Complaint: American Medicine, Then and Now

""Brown has framed an intriguing new area of research and gathered a surprisingly rich source of textual evidence. Marvelous.""—Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, author of A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812

A nation’s standards of private cleanliness reveal much about its ideals of civilization, fears of disease, and expectations for public life, says Kathleen Brown in this award-winning cultural history. Starting with the shake-up of European practices that coincided with Atlantic expansion, she traces attitudes toward “dirt” through the mid-nineteenth century, demonstrating that cleanliness—and the lack of it—had moral, religious, and often sexual implications. Brown contends that care of the body is not simply a private matter but an expression of cultural ideals that reflect the fundamental values of a society.

The book explores early America’s evolving perceptions of cleanliness, along the way analyzing the connections between changing public expectations for appearance and manners, and the backstage work of grooming, laundering, and housecleaning performed by women. Brown provides an intimate view of cleanliness practices and how such forces as urbanization, immigration, market conditions, and concerns about social mobility influenced them. Broad in historical scope and imaginative in its insights, this book expands the topic of cleanliness to encompass much larger issues, including religion, health, gender, class, and race relations."

By: Kathleen M. Brown
Imprint: Yale University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 156mm, Spine: 3mm
Weight: 522g
ISBN: 9780300171556
ISBN 10: 0300171552
Series: Society and the Sexes in the Modern World
Pages: 464
Publication Date: 31 May 2011
Audience: College/higher education , Further / Higher Education
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Kathleen M. Brown is professor of history, University of Pennsylvania, and author of Good Wives, Nasty Wenches, and Anxious Patriarchs: Gender, Race, and Power in Colonial Virginia. She lives in Merion Station, PA.

Reviews for Foul Bodies: Cleanliness in Early America

"""'Kathleen M. Brown provides an explicit analysis of bodies that revises and complicates our understanding of their cultural impact.... She has written an engaging book that seamlessly leads readers to reconceptualize the ways that even the most personal is undeniably public and political.' (Sharon Block, American Historical Review) 'A deeply researched and richly detailed story.'"" (David Aikman, The Weekly Standard)"""