Foul Bodies: Cleanliness in Early America

by Kathleen Brown

In colonial times few Americans bathed regularly; by the mid-1800s, a cleanliness “revolution” had begun. Why this change, and what did it signify?

"It is the author's ability to appreciate and represent the almost tactile circumstantiality of life that makes Foul Bodies so special—and so readable."—Charles E. Rosenberg, author of Our Present American Medicine, Then and Now

"Brown has framed an intriguing new area of research and gathered a surprisingly rich source of textual evidence. Marvelous."—Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, author of A Midwife's The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812

A nation’s standards of private cleanliness reveal much about its ideals of civilization, fears of disease, and expectations for public life, says Kathleen Brown in this award-winning cultural history. Starting with the shake-up of European practices that coincided with Atlantic expansion, she traces attitudes toward “dirt” through the mid-nineteenth century, demonstrating that cleanliness—and the lack of it—had moral, religious, and often sexual implications. Brown contends that care of the body is not simply a private matter but an expression of cultural ideals that reflect the fundamental values of a society.

The book explores early America’s evolving perceptions of cleanliness, along the way analyzing the connections between changing public expectations for appearance and manners, and the backstage work of grooming, laundering, and housecleaning performed by women. Brown provides an intimate view of cleanliness practices and how such forces as urbanization, immigration, market conditions, and concerns about social mobility influenced them. Broad in historical scope and imaginative in its insights, this book expands the topic of cleanliness to encompass much larger issues, including religion, health, gender, class, and race relations.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History, Race, Politics, Gender, Fashion

464 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[jq · Rating 4 out of 5]

chock-full of primary material - perhaps too much so, considering that smaller arguments are often repetitive and perhaps could have been arranged in an even more thematic way than now. interesting choice to frame this as an account of 'early america' and then go all the way up to the mid/late 19th century. the structure really meanders and it's not altogether clear why the information was ordered in this way. it feels as though brown spent so long working on this book that she didn't want to compromise on edits.

all in all, perhaps a little over-ambitious, although i appreciate the desire to really make this 'body work' thesis a clear historical development. i enjoyed the concept of body work as classed, raced, gendered, and as shaping class race and gender. of course, ultimately the fact this book was written is really important. parts of it really blew my mind, especially in the introduction - brown really deftly lays out why hygiene politics are crucial to our understanding of history.

brown is really astute in her outlining of the discourses on white, Native, Black, and Irish bodies. as she gets further into the 19th century, though, it becomes odd that she doesn't make mention of other racialised bodies that were being introduced into the country to great political and social upheaval at this time - yellow and brown bodies. likely because brown does not mention the western US at all (which at first made sense when she was only doing 'early' america, but gets a bit weird by this point, since she doesn't justify this at all) but i feel like the pathologisation of san francisco chinatown, for instance, as physical, moral, social, spiritual, and environmental infection/corruption/pollution and specifically a threat to white women's bodies, as well as chinese people's role in laundry businesses, would all have really strengthened brown's thesis.

finally, while i appreciate the use of material culture (which i think she could have done a better job of analysing in and of themselves instead of just as 'evidence') i also think a better incorporation of artistic output, especially literary forms of writing, alongside reports/diaries and manuals, would have been quite interesting in outlining the american imagination of cleanliness.

[Rosie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting reframing of early American cleanliness habits, formation of beliefs about the body and how they reflected gentility. Brown challenges readers to rethink current ideas of a civilized body and reflect on the labor of women behind personal hygiene habits.

[Tyler Amick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I struggle with giving this book a three because Brown is well-researched and erudite on her topic. This rating should definitely not be criticizing the book’s academic quality either. Rather I have this book a 3 star review for two reasons. First, Brown’s work, though centered in the realm of Atlantic history, relies heavily on European and American upper class accounts, giving the findings a discernible Eurocentric bent. Secondly, and more importantly, Brown’s book is extraordinarily expansive. She is knowledgeable on a number of topics across a large expanse of time, but this has a drawback in that it limits the book’s ability to focus on specific topics within her grand narrative.

[Mcurtis3 · Rating 4 out of 5]

One book I wish I had read long ago before all that College history.

[Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

read for honors thesis

[Kent · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brown's Foul Bodies contains fascinating ideas about the changing practices and meanings behind them of cleanness in America, but it tries to do too much. I claim some bias here because of my interests in pre-1800 United States, but Brown's first half on this time period is much better than the second half. She begins by setting up an Atlantic framework, which is essential to understanding European's (primarily English) changing conceptions of cleanliness in the Age of Exploration and New World colonization, but this framework disappears after the American Revolution--although the presence of the Irish and American-born African slaves sort of take the place of native peoples and African cultures. Her emphasis on the role and work of women throughout the three hundred years she covers is also an important tradition to the existing historiography. The best thing about this work is it provides numerous jumping off points for further research. Some of these are identified by Brown, as she includes some unanswered questions throughout the book. As a work covering such a broad period of time, it maybe should not be surprising that it leaves many questions unanswered, or does not fully go into all the topics it introduces. But, this is also the book's biggest negative as the reader is often left with wanting more. Especially as Brown enters the nineteenth century, her framework and structure of the book by time does not hold up as well and the reader becomes confused how all the ideas she is pointing out fit together. Still, as a work to encourage additional research on this important subject to conceptions and presentations of race, class, and gender in American society, Brown's Foul Bodies is a worthwhile read and great for inspiring new research questions. For those just looking to get a basis of what she is arguing, her Introduction and Afterward provide excellent explanations of her main findings, theoretical framework, and arguments.

[Ksenija · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was trying to get my hands on this book for quite some time as I am very much interested in the subject it promised to deal with. Alas, I fear I have been thoroughly disappointed. The material has been researched quite well, but excerpts that the author decided to include to illustrate a certain point, were just too similar to each other and very repetitive. Moreover, at no point did she explain her choices which we are led to believe to be quite final with no alternative ones in sight.

I do not doubt there's been quite a a massive literary research behind this title, but there are so many other sources so closely connected to the subject that are simply omitted in their entirety. For example, growing industrial changes that are closely connected with producing cleanliness (soaps, detergents, clothing & plumbing), are only glanced over. Furthermore, the time framework she is dealing is quite puzzling, as the second half of the XIX century is rushed in no more than three paragraphs. Also, somewhere from the second third of the book, there are almost no references to any other culture, country or occurrence in world history, and it seems like the northern and southern American countries were completely isolated and not prone for influence or cultural exchange with anyone else on the globe.

[Colford Bennet]

Excellent book on hygiene in America! Some people found it too academic but she gives lots of examples. I found it fabulous! Intense research.

[Rebecca Kilby Vannette]

Not entirely what I was expecting. I only read part of it and skimmed the rest.