Milk: The Fight for Purity

by James Cross Giblin

Traces the history of the centuries-long effort of philanthropists, scientists, and consumers to make milk a reliably pure and safe product.

106 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

James Cross Giblin was an American children's author and editor, known for his award-winning works. He won the Golden Kite Award and the Sibert Medal for his contributions to children's literature. Giblin was born in Cleveland and raised in Painesville, Ohio. He graduated from Western Reserve University and earned a master's in playwriting from Columbia University. After a brief acting career, he entered publishing, founding Clarion Books, a children's imprint later acquired by Houghton Mifflin. At Clarion, he edited works by notable authors like Eileen Christelow and Mary Downing Hahn. Giblin’s works include The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler and Good Brother, Bad Brother.

Reviews

[R. G. Nairam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty interesting! I kind of hoped it would get into some of the more modern debates about milk (hormones, grain-fed, continuing raw milk fight)--forgetting that it came out in the 1980s and so of course couldn't. It did as a result give it a nicely time-capsuled description of pasteurization, however.

Mostly a history from the mid-1800s on. Some interesting crises I hadn't ever heard of before. And man, Nathan Straus was a cool dude.

[Sarah N · Rating 4 out of 5]

(4 1/2 STARS)
This was an incredibly fascinating non-fiction book, even though it's rather dated at this point (its history ends in the 1980's, hence I knocked off half a star). I had NO IDEA about the journey of milk to today's form. What a great reminder not to take things for granted...

[Sally · Rating 3 out of 5]

637.1 GIB

I guess I hadn't realized how dark milk's past has been. From "swill milk" to cows with silent TB, poisoned feed and radioactivity, milk has often been "inherently dangerous," as our friends at the FDA are fond of saying.

What this history tells *me* is that milk that is produced away from the consumer by a farmer with whom there is no trusting relationship is "inherently dangerous," unless there are strict regulations in place to protect said consumer. And even then, direct farmer to educated-consumer sales are probably a better bet.