When the Air Became Important : A Social History of the New England and Lancashire Textile Industries / Janet Greenlees.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Greenlees, Janet, Author.

Series:

Critical issues in health and medicine.

Critical Issues in Health and Medicine

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Textile workers--Diseases--England--Lancashire--History--19th century.

Textile workers.

Textile workers--Diseases--England--Lancashire--History--20th century.

Air quality--England--Lancashire.

Air quality.

Work environment--England--Lancashire.

Work environment.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xi, 245 pages) : illustrations.

Place of Publication:

New Brunswick, NJ : Rutgers University Press, [2019]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

In When the Air Became Important, medical historian Janet Greenlees examines the working environments of the heartlands of the British and American cotton textile industries from the nineteenth to the late twentieth centuries. Greenlees contends that the air quality within these pioneering workplaces was a key contributor to the health of the wider communities of which they were a part. Such enclosed environments, where large numbers of people labored in close quarters, were ideal settings for the rapid spread of diseases including tuberculosis, bronchitis and pneumonia. When workers left the factories for home, these diseases were transmitted throughout the local population, yet operatives also brought diseases into the factory. Other aerial hazards common to both the community and workplace included poor ventilation and noise. Emphasizing the importance of the peculiarities of place as well as employers' balance of workers' health against manufacturing needs, Greenlees's pioneering book sheds light on the roots of contemporary environmentalism and occupational health reform. Her work highlights the complicated relationships among local business, local and national politics of health, and community priorities.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Abbreviations

Chapter 1. Introduction: When Does the Air in the Workplace Become Important?

Chapter 2. Textile Towns and Mill Environments

Chapter 3. Tuberculosis in the Factory

Chapter 4. "I Used to Feel Ill with It": Heat, Humidity, and Fatigue

Chapter 5. Dust: A New Socio-Environmental Relationship

Chapter 6. "The Noise Were Horrendous": The Ignored Industrial Hazard

Chapter 7. Conclusion: When Does the Air Become Important?

Acknowledgments

Notes

Bibliography

Index

About the Author

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 29. Feb 2020)

ISBN:

0-8135-8798-0

OCLC:

1129235959