Description
Book SynopsisInventing Pollution examines new understandings of pollution, centered not on organic decay but on coal combustion, that emerged in the late 19th century in Britain. This change, Thorsheim argues, gave birth to the smoke-abatement movement and to new ways of thinking about the relationships among humanity, technology, and the environment.
Trade Review“Anybody interested in the story of how an industrial society learned to manage its interactions with the physical environment would benefit from reading
Inventing Pollution.” * Business History Review *
“The chapters devoted to the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries set a new standard for our understanding of how, in technological, legislative, and local regulatory terms, the behemoth of nineteenth-century smoke fog came gradually to be tamed, only to be replaced by new collective fears of invisible emissions from new industrial processes.” * Journal of British Studies *
“Inventing Pollution is a valuable reminder that air pollution was causing environmental, medical, and political controversies long before it became a focus for protests and regulations in the 1960s. By tracing the many responses to ‘smoke pollution’ in the first industrial nation over the past two centuries, Peter Thorsheim has established himself as a leading environmental historian … His book will be of wide interest on both sides of the Atlantic.”
“Drawing on an impressive range of source materials, including some excellent photographs, cartoons, and advertisements, this concise and clearly-written study explores public understandings of air pollution in Britain over the past two centuries.” * Journal of Social History *
