Garbage In The Cities

Refuse Reform and the Environment

Martin V. Melosi

• Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
• Year: 2004
• eBook ISBN: 9780822972686
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: Biological Sciences

As recently as the 1880s, most American cities had no effective means of collecting and removing the mountains of garbage, refuse, and manure-over a thousand tons a day in New York City alone-that clogged streets and overwhelmed the senses of residents. In his landmark study, Garbage in the Cities, Martin Melosi offered the first history of efforts begun in the Progressive Era to clean up this mess.Since it was first published, Garbage in the Cities has remained one of the best historical treatments of the subject. This thoroughly revised and updated edition includes two new chapters that expand the discussion of developments since World War I. It also offers a discussion of the reception of the first edition, and an examination of the ways solid waste management has become more federally regulated in the last quarter of the twentieth century.Melosi traces the rise of sanitation engineering, accurately describes the scope and changing nature of the refuse problem in U.S. cities, reveals the sometimes hidden connections between industrialization and pollution, and discusses the social agendas behind many early cleanliness programs. Absolutely essential reading for historians, policy analysts, and sociologists, Garbage in the Cities offers a vibrant and insightful analysis of this fascinating topic.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Tables and Figures
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• One. Out of Sight, Out of Mind: The Refuse Problem in the Late Nineteenth Century
• Two. The “Apostle of Cleanliness” and the Origins of Refuse Management
• Three. Refuse as an Engineering Problem: Sanitary Engineers and Municipal Reform
• Four. Refuse as an Aesthetic Problem: Voluntary Citizens’ Organizations and Sanitation
• Five. Street-Cleaning Practices in the Early Twentieth Century
• Photographs
• Six. Collection and Disposal Practices in the Early Twentieth Century
• Seven. Solid Waste as Pollution in Twentieth-Century America
• Eight. The Garbage Crisis in the Late Twentieth Century
• Conclusion
• Notes
• Index