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ancequay's review against another edition
4.0
The first two thirds was interesting and educational. The last third was interesting and thought provoking. This challenged some of my ideas about both what "clean" means and its merit. Some of the discussion on links with asthma and allergies I'd heard before but never explained so clearly, and it was a little mind bending to look at cleanliness as something other than a virtue. Not sure I'll be washing my hands less because of this book, but I'll feel less guilty about the occasional showerless Saturday.
aneides's review against another edition
4.0
This is a book about the history of the views and practices of cleanliness in western culture from the time of the ancient Greeks. [insert obligatory joke about the irony that the subject of washing sounds rather dry.] It was actually quite a page-turner for this kind of nonfiction.
Concerns about sanctity, modesty, virility, disease, and courtesy attend this subject through time, and a shocking amount of scientific misinformation has been disseminated by learned individuals even in relatively recent decades. Who knows what we are currently getting wrong?
I think the book would have benefited from more treatment of the subject of cleanliness in non-western cultures, but I suppose that would have made it far too long.
Concerns about sanctity, modesty, virility, disease, and courtesy attend this subject through time, and a shocking amount of scientific misinformation has been disseminated by learned individuals even in relatively recent decades. Who knows what we are currently getting wrong?
I think the book would have benefited from more treatment of the subject of cleanliness in non-western cultures, but I suppose that would have made it far too long.
pinkrain718's review against another edition
5.0
Wow! I read this book for my book group, Bound Together, and boy am I impressed! This book was unlike any other. I will confess that I times I was a bit grossed out, but Ashenburg's detail on the history of cleanliness made the book impossible to put down. I cannot believe how much has changed! The transition from public bathing to the obsessive need of Americans to bathe daily is surprising when you know the scandalous past of showers! I learned so much about the social history of cleanliness and I hope to use much of what I've learned in the history class that I teach. Remember, this book is not for the faint of the heart!
jmeston's review against another edition
4.0
Lively and quick. I liked all the examples showing that cleanliness is culturally determined. It is a challenge to set one's assumptions aside and imagine the different ways clean and dirty have been understood.
A few of the examples were new to me and made me wonder if another source would confirm. Did the chamber pots at Versailles really sit in the hallways and not get emptied?!
A few of the examples were new to me and made me wonder if another source would confirm. Did the chamber pots at Versailles really sit in the hallways and not get emptied?!
basiamoon's review against another edition
3.0
This is a strictly EUROPEAN history of hygiene... no mention of Asia, Africa, Pre-Colombian Americas, etc, which had different histories and standards of cleanliness. Comparing standards of hygiene across cultures seems essential when writing a history book on the subject.
wealhtheow's review against another edition
3.0
I foolishly neglect to take notes while reading this book, so I don't have precise dates, hilarious anecdotes and strange factoids to share. However, all of those things can be found within these pages! Engagingly gossipy, with a clear organizational structure, this was an easy to read introduction to the very broad subject of hygiene. The book focuses mostly on Western Europe, with some side notes and comparison to the Middle East, northern Africa, the US, and a few others. Basically what I got out of this was that just as we are taught in schools, the Roman Empire was a shining moment of cleanliness. Before and after (once the infrastructure of the pipes started to crumble), Europeans were dirty, bathing maybe once a year, and the rest of the world was rather disgusted and astounded by them. Common misconceptions were that water weakened the skin's defenses against diseases, and that wearing clean linen, not water, was the safest and most efficacious method of staying clean. Washing ones hands, face and sometimes feet was often the most even a hoity-toity type would do. Eventually soap became easier to make, less smelly, and more effective, and sanitation too improved, and Europeans started bathing more often. The author discusses how what counts as "clean" has changed throughout the ages and varies by place, as well, and mentions that perceived dirtiness is often a method of denoting us-vs-them against immigrants, minority groups, etc.
vulveeta's review against another edition
3.0
people weren't stanky, and then they were, and then they weren't again
i'm halfway through this and i'm bored because how much can you say about how often people did and didn't bathe? like, obviously, there's plenty to be said but it just isn't interesting enough to me. sadly i'm stuck slogging through the rest of this book because sux2bme, that's just the kind of book-reader i am. i should say that it isn't actually bad, just duuuuuuullllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll. (that's supposed to illustrate how it is dragging on and on!!!) pls pray 4 my ability to finish this book.
i'm halfway through this and i'm bored because how much can you say about how often people did and didn't bathe? like, obviously, there's plenty to be said but it just isn't interesting enough to me. sadly i'm stuck slogging through the rest of this book because sux2bme, that's just the kind of book-reader i am. i should say that it isn't actually bad, just duuuuuuullllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll. (that's supposed to illustrate how it is dragging on and on!!!) pls pray 4 my ability to finish this book.