| Description |
1 online resource (x, 276 pages) : illustrations |
| Contents |
Introduction : "just don't touch the water" -- A "peculiar kind" of bath : the origin of municipal pools in America -- "A means of physical culture" : the redefinition of municipal pools during the 1890s -- "A good investment in health, character, and citizenship" : municipal swimming pools in the Progressive Era -- Interlude : the traumatic early history of Fairgrounds Park Pool -- The "swimming pool age" : 1920 to 1940 -- "One for the white race and the other for the colored race" : the onset of racial discrimination, 1920 to 1940 -- "More sensitive than schools" : the struggle to desegregate municipal swimming pools -- "Alone in the backyard" : swimming pools in recent America -- Conclusion : the promise and reality of swimming pools as public spaces |
| Summary |
From 19th-century public baths to today's private backyard havens, swimming pools have been a provocative symbol of American life. In this social and cultural history of swimming pools in the U.S., Wiltse relates how, over the years, pools have served as asylums for the urban poor, leisure resorts for the masses, and private clubs for middle-class suburbanites. As sites of race riots, shrinking swimsuits, and conspicuous leisure, swimming pools reflect the tensions and transformations that have given rise to modern America |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 255-266) and index |
| Notes |
English |
|
Print version record |
| Subject |
Swimming pools -- Social aspects -- United States
|
|
Swimming pools -- United States -- History
|
|
POLITICAL SCIENCE -- Public Policy -- Cultural Policy.
|
|
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Anthropology -- Cultural.
|
|
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Popular Culture.
|
|
Swimming pools
|
|
United States
|
| Genre/Form |
Electronic books
|
|
History
|
| Form |
Electronic book
|
| LC no. |
2006031021 |
| ISBN |
9780807888988 |
|
0807888982 |
|
9781469604664 |
|
1469604663 |
|
