Awards

• Short-listed for Pearson Writers' Trust Non-Fiction Prize 2007

Overview

For the first-century Roman, being clean meant a public two-hour soak in baths of various temperatures, a scraping of the body with a miniature rake, and a final application of oil. For the seventeenth-century aristocratic Frenchman, it meant changing his shirt once a day, using perfume to obliterate both his own aroma and everyone else’ s, but never immersing himself in – horrors! – water. By the early 1900s, an extraordinary idea took hold in North America – that frequent bathing, perhaps even a daily bath, was advisable. Not since the Roman Empire had people been so clean, and standards became even more extreme as the millennium approached. Now we live in a deodorized world where germophobes shake hands with their elbows and where sales of hand sanitizers, wipes and sprays are skyrocketing. The apparently routine task of taking up soap and water (or not) is Katherine Ashenburg’s starting point for a unique exploration of Western culture, which yields surprising insights into our notions of privacy, health, individuality, religion and sexuality. Ashenburg searches for clean and dirty in plague-ridden streets, medieval steam baths, castles and tenements, and in bathrooms of every description, revealing the bizarre rescriptions of history. Filled with amusing anecdotes and quotations from the great bathers of history, The Dirt on Clean takes us on a journey that is by turns intriguing, humorous, startling and not always for the squeamish.

Full Product Details

9780676976649

Table of Contents

Reviews

Brimming with lively anecdotes, this well-researched, smartly paced and endearing history of Western cleanliness holds a welcome mirror up to our intimate selves, revealing deep-seated desires and fears spanning 2000-plus years. --Publishers' Weekly In clear and straightforward prose, Ashenburg condenses a vast amount of information into smooth chapters. . . . She includes many quirky tidbits of cultural history, such as the role played by bathing in Eliza Doolittle's transformation from Cockney flower-seller to fair lady and the appearance in the 1930s of vaguely menacing magazine ads that threatened women with spinsterhood if they dared let their breath or armpits smell.. . . . Dozens of charming illustrations distinguish a book notable for its engaging design as well as its illuminating content. -Kirkus Reviews Praise for The Mourner's Dance Moving, exotic, outrageous. . . . A serendipitous tour of anthropology, cultural history, psychology and personal reflection. . . . It's a pleasure to accompany Ashenburg. --The Globe and Mail An intricate tapestry that maps out the emotional landscape of grief. . . . A richly informative and compassionate book. --The Vancouver Sun Elegantly written. . . . The Mourner's Dance-learned, often moving and even consoling-is a superb survey. --Maclean's From the Hardcover edition.

Brimming with lively anecdotes, this well-researched, smartly paced and endearing history of Western cleanliness holds a welcome mirror up to our intimate selves, revealing deep-seated desires and fears spanning 2000-plus years. -Publishers' Weekly In clear and straightforward prose, Ashenburg condenses a vast amount of information into smooth chapters. . . . She includes many quirky tidbits of cultural history, such as the role played by bathing in Eliza Doolittle's transformation from Cockney flower-seller to fair lady and the appearance in the 1930s of vaguely menacing magazine ads that threatened women with spinsterhood if they dared let their breath or armpits smell.. . . . Dozens of charming illustrations distinguish a book notable for its engaging design as well as its illuminating content. -Kirkus Reviews Praise for The Mourner's Dance: Moving, exotic, outrageous. . . . A serendipitous tour of anthropology, cultural history, psychology and personal reflection. . . . It's a pleasure to accompany Ashenburg. -The Globe and Mail An intricate tapestry that maps out the emotional landscape of grief. . . . A richly informative and compassionate book. -The Vancouver Sun Elegantly written. . . . The Mourner's Dance-learned, often moving and even consoling-is a superb survey. -Maclean's

Brimming with lively anecdotes, this well-researched, smartly paced and endearing history of Western cleanliness holds a welcome mirror up to our intimate selves, revealing deep-seated desires and fears spanning 2000-plus years. <br>-- Publishers' Weekly <br> In clear and straightforward prose, Ashenburg condenses a vast amount of information into smooth chapters. . . . She includes many quirky tidbits of cultural history, such as the role played by bathing in Eliza Doolittle's transformation from Cockney flower-seller to fair lady and the appearance in the 1930s of vaguely menacing magazine ads that threatened women with spinsterhood if they dared let their breath or armpits smell.. . . . Dozens of charming illustrations distinguish a book notable for its engaging design as well as its illuminating content. <br>- Kirkus Reviews <br>Praise for The Mourner's Dance : <br> Moving, exotic, outrageous. . . . A serendipitous tour of anthropology, cultural history, psychology and personal reflection. . . . It's a pleasure to accompany Ashenburg. <br>-- The Globe and Mail <br> An intricate tapestry that maps out the emotional landscape of grief. . . . A richly informative and compassionate book. <br>-- The Vancouver Sun <br> Elegantly written. . . . The Mourner's Dance-learned, often moving and even consoling-is a superb survey. <br>-- Maclean's <p> From the Hardcover edition.

Author Information

KATHERINE ASHENBURG is the author of both books and many magazine and newspaper articles. She has written for The New York Times, The Globe and Mail and Toronto Life, among other publications. Her books include The Mourner's Dance: What We Do When People Die, The Dirt on Clean: An Unsanitized History, which was published in twelve countries and six languages, and the novel Sofie & Cecilia. In former incarnations, she was a producer at CBC Radio and was The Globe and Mail's Arts and Books editor. In 2012, she won a Gold Medal at the National Magazine Awards for her article on old age.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available