The Gospel of Germs: Men, Women, and the Microbe in American Life

by Nancy Tomes

Book Overview

AIDS. Ebola. Killer microbes. All around us the alarms are going off, warning of the danger of new, deadly diseases. And yet, as Nancy Tomes reminds us in her absorbing book, this is really nothing new. A remarkable work of medical and cultural history, The Gospel of Germs takes us back to the first great germ panic in American history, which peaked in the early 1900s, to explore the origins of our modern disease consciousness.

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• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0674357086
• ISBN13: 9780674357082
• Release Date: September 1999
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Germ theory boosts cleanliness

The notion of germs spreading disease acquired currency in the late 19th century. Public-health efforts focused on better plumbing, to avoid fecal contamination of water supplies, and general cleanliness. I was amused to read that toilets were designed to flush thoroughly, something I envy given the current fad for low-flow "green" toilets that often require repeated flushing. Changes promoted to promote cleanliness included shortening women's skirts, shaving off facial hair and reducing the clutter of Victorian-era interior design. I'd thought they'd been mere matters of fashion. A cleaner house could be achieved by the middle and upper classes, but the unintended effect was to make the housewife feel guilty if, despite all her scrubbing, a family member still got sick. The poor performed many services for the middle and upper classes, but in their own unhygienic dwellings. Improving the lot of the working poor, to reduce their rates of contagious illness, was presented, in the early 20th century, as a way to protect the health of the middle and upper classes. It's good for the modern reader to be reminded of the scourge of tuberculosis, a very common disease at the time.