Paris Sewers and Sewermen: Realities and Representations - Softcover

Reid, Donald

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0674654633 ISBN 13: 9780674654631

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 1993

Synopsis

The expansion of the Paris sewer system during the Second Empire and Third Republic was both a technological and a political triumph. The sewers themselves were an important cultural phenomenon, and the men who worked in them a source of fascination. Donald Reid shows that observing how such labourers as cesspool cleaners and sewermen present themselves and are represented by others is a way to reflect on the material and cultural foundations of everyday life. The author has been awarded the Dexter Prize of the Society for the History of Technology, and has also been accorded an Honourable Mention by the 1992 Abel Wolman Award Committee of the Public Works Historical Society.

About this title

From Library Journal:

Reid (history, Univ. of North Carolina) literally visualizes "history from the bottom up" in this study. He traces the development of waste disposal in Paris from the days of cesspools and street disposal in the 18th century to the evolution of a comprehensive and efficient sewer system in the late 19th century. He also brings in politics and literature in his analysis, seeing a relationship between the sewers and political rebellion and examining the symbolic role sewers played in Victor Hugo's Les Miserables . Reid recounts the changing status of Paris sewermen from a shunned profession to a respected, "blue collar" occupational status with a livable wage and benefits, and a strong trade union. While interesting, this book has limited appeal, given the narrow scope of the topic and the rather densely written text, in which Reid assumes the reader's familiarity with the French language and the various historical figures. -- Norman Lederer, Stevens State Sch. of Technology, Lancaster, Pa.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0674654633
• ISBN 13: 9780674654631
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 248