The Lung Block - (History of the Urban Environment) by Adrienne Denoyelles (Hardcover)

About the Book

Lays Bare the Class Struggles Inherent in Public Health and Urban Parks Campaigns of the Early Twentieth Century

Book Synopsis

Public health, housing, poverty, and immigration dominated social and political discourse in early twentieth-century New York, much as they do today. The Lower East Side provided an urban environment where infectious disease and other public health concerns flourished. One city block in particular, known in muckraking circles as "The Lung Block," housed four thousand first- and second-generation Americans in dilapidated tenements where deadly tuberculosis spread uninhibited. The Lung Block looks at a 1903 reform crusade to demolish this working-class tenement neighborhood and replace it with a park. Progressive reformers aimed to confront the area's moral and environmental dangers, but their conceptualization of the problem and methods for addressing it placed them into direct conflict with the hand-to-mouth priorities of the residents. The campaign and its eventual failure illuminate the formidable social barriers distancing urban reformers and the marginalized populations they intend to help.

Review Quotes

The Lung Block, by design, is a microhistory, but its ambitions and achievements are anything but small. deNoyelles is a particularly talented storyteller who brings the block to life. This is a wonderfully assignable book that could work well in courses on urban history, history of medicine, and public health.-- "Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era"

The Lung Block is a wonderful contribution to American public health history. This important topic has found its perfect historian in Adrienne deNoyelles.--Howard Markel, author of The Secret of Life: Rosalind Franklin, James Watson, Francis Crick, and the Discovery of DNA's Double Helix

DeNoyelles takes a familiar story--progressive reform in New York City--and tells it anew with a depth of coverage that is unique.--Jennifer Koslow, Florida State University

About the Author

Adrienne deNoyelles is a writer and researcher who earned her PhD in American history from the University of Florida.