Title The gospel of germs : men, women, and the microbe in American life / Nancy Tomes

Published Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, ©1998

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Description 1 online resource (xv, 351 pages) Series ACLS Humanities E-Book Contents [part] 1. The gospel emergent, 1870-1890 -- 1. Apostles of the germ -- 2. Whited sepulchers -- 3. Entrepreneurs of the germ -- [part] 2. The gospel triumphant, 1890-1920 -- 4. Disciples of the laboratory -- 5. Tuberculosis religion -- 6. The domestication of the germ -- [part] 3. The gospel in practice, 1900-1930 -- 7. Antisepticonscious America -- 8. The wages of dirt were death -- 9. The two-edged sword -- [part] 4. The gospel in retreat -- 10. The waning of enthusiasm Summary Little more than a hundred years ago, ordinary Americans had no idea that many deadly ailments were the work of microorganisms, let alone that their own behavior spread such diseases. The Gospel of Germs shows how the revolutionary findings of late-nineteenth-century bacteriology made their way from the laboratory to the lavatory and kitchen, with public health reformers spreading the word and women taking up the battle on the domestic front. Drawing on a wealth of advice books, patent applications, advertisements, and oral histories, Tomes traces the new awareness of the microbe as it radiated outward from middle-class homes into the world of American business and crossed the lines of class, gender, ethnicity, and race. Just as we take some of the weapons in this germ war for granted - fixtures as familiar as the white porcelain toilet, the window screen, the refrigerator, and the vacuum cleaner - so we rarely think of the drastic measures deployed against disease in the dangerous old days before antibiotics. But, as Tomes notes, many of the hygiene rules first popularized in those days remain the foundation of infectious disease control today. Her work offers a look into the history of our long-standing obsession with germs, its impact on twentieth-century culture and society, and its troubling new relevance for our own lives Analysis Bacteria Viruses United States Communicable disease control Public health Tuberculosis AIDS History Social change Opinion shifts Medical science Overseas item Bacteriology Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 269-341) and index Notes Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002. http://purl.oclc.org/DLF/benchrepro0212 MiAaHDL English Print version record digitized 2010 HathiTrust Digital Library committed to preserve pda MiAaHDL Subject Germ theory of disease -- Public opinion -- History -- 19th century Germ theory of disease -- Public opinion -- History -- 20th century Hygiene -- United States -- History -- 19th century Hygiene -- United States -- History -- 20th century Hygiene. Public health. Therapeutics. Sociology. Medical care. Social sciences. Public Opinion Hygiene Communicable Disease Control Social Control, Informal Public Health Practice Public Health Therapeutics Environment and Public Health. Sociology Analytical, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Techniques and Equipment Delivery of Health Care Social Sciences Anthropology, Education, Sociology and Social Phenomena Patient Care public health. sociology. social sciences. treating (health care function) Therapeutics Sociology Social sciences Public health Medical care Germ theory of disease -- Public opinion Hygiene Pathogener Mikroorganismus Gesundheitsgefährdung Infektionskrankheit Krankheitsübertragung Gesellschaftliches Bewusstsein Hygiene Micro-organismen. Besmetting. Pathology. Medicine. Health & Biological Sciences. Geschichte 1870-1998. United States USA Genre/Form History Form Electronic book LC no. 97028734

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