Overview

Dirt - obsessively avoided, often misunderstood, but paradoxically also an indicator of 'civilisation' (through production of waste), and a near-magical source of renewable life and medical discovery. History is rich with progressive victories over dirt, from the aqueducts and sewers of the Roman Empire to Sir Joseph Bazalgette's triumphant 'Main Drainage of London' in the mid-nineteenth century, which still functions today. Yet our relationship with dirt is complex and ambivalent. Dirt is waste, excrement, rubbish - but what then is soil? Is cleanliness next to godliness - or sterility? And in a throwaway society, does the battle against dirt depend on an exploited and half-seen underclass of cleaners? Published to coincide with a major new exhibition at the Wellcome Collection in London in March 2011, and lavishly illustrated with images from the Wellcome's archives, this provocative book features specially commissioned essays and a short graphic novel section on the significance and implications of dirt from the microbial level through to the environmental.

Full Product Details

9781846684791

Table of Contents

Reviews

'May god make your house dirty!' - Dogon blessing from Mali

Author Information

Virginia Smith is a freelance historian and research fellow at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Rosie Cox is a senior lecturer at Birkbeck College. Elizabeth Pisani is an epidemiologist. Rose George is a freelance writer. Peter Brimblecombe is professor of atmospheric chemistry at the University of East Anglia. Brian Ralph is an illustrator and lecturer at the Maryland Institute of Art.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available