Foul Bodies: Cleanliness in Early AmericaYale University Press, 2009 M01 1 - 450 pages In colonial times few Americans bathed regularly; by the mid-1800s, a cleanliness “revolution” had begun. Why this change, and what did it signify? 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 unusual 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. |
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advice African Americans American Antiquarian Society Anthony Wayne appearance Army Atlantic Atlantic basin bathing became bodily cleanliness body body’s Boston Cameron cholera civility claimed clean clothes cold Colonial Compleat Housewife Continental Army culture diary dirt dirty disease domestic labor dress early modern efforts eighteenth century Eliza Leslie Elizabeth England English enslaved European female filth garments genteel gentility Godey's Lady's Book habits healing History household Ibid immersion important Indian indigenous Irish John John Harrower Joseph Downs Joseph Downs Collection Journal July Ladies laundering laundry linen London Medicine mistress moral mother Native Americans North northern noted odor orderly book person Philadelphia physical physician political poor practices Puritan readers refinement servants sexual shirts skin slave smells Smith soap social soldiers southern standards textiles tion Tyler uncleanness urban Virginia wash water cure West African William woman women yellow fever York