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Book Synopsis

Meticulous . . . [Nagle''s] passion for the subject really comes to life. The New York Times

New York City produces more than twelve thousand tons of household trash and recyclables a day. As quickly as it accumulates, it''s hauled away. But who makes that happen? What''s life like for the workers with careers built around garbage?
In Picking Up, the anthropologist Robin Nagle takes us inside New York City''s Department of Sanitation, a largely unseen and often unloved army responsible for keeping the city alive. Nagle spent a decade with sanitation people of all ranks to learn what it takes to manage Gotham''s garbage. She even took the job herself, driving trucks and plowing snow while enduring the physical aches, public abuse, and risk of injury that are constant realities of the job. Nagle offers an insider''s perspective on the complex hierarchies, intricate rules, and obscure language unique to this mostly invisible world.

Picking Up On the Streets and Behind the Trucks

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    A Paperback / softback by Robin Nagle

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      Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
      Publication Date: 18/03/2014
      ISBN13: 9780374534271, 978-0374534271
      ISBN10: 0374534276

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      Meticulous . . . [Nagle''s] passion for the subject really comes to life. The New York Times

      New York City produces more than twelve thousand tons of household trash and recyclables a day. As quickly as it accumulates, it''s hauled away. But who makes that happen? What''s life like for the workers with careers built around garbage?
      In Picking Up, the anthropologist Robin Nagle takes us inside New York City''s Department of Sanitation, a largely unseen and often unloved army responsible for keeping the city alive. Nagle spent a decade with sanitation people of all ranks to learn what it takes to manage Gotham''s garbage. She even took the job herself, driving trucks and plowing snow while enduring the physical aches, public abuse, and risk of injury that are constant realities of the job. Nagle offers an insider''s perspective on the complex hierarchies, intricate rules, and obscure language unique to this mostly invisible world.

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