Hubbub: Filth, Noise, and Stench in England, 1600-1770

A not-for-the-squeamish journey back through the centuries to urban England, where the streets are crowded, noisy, filthy, and reeking of smoke and decay

Modern city-dwellers suffer their share of unpleasant experiences--traffic jams, noisy neighbors, pollution, food scares--but urban nuisances of the past existed on a different scale entirely, this book explains in vivid detail. Focusing on offenses to the eyes, ears, noses, taste buds, and skin of inhabitants of England's pre-Industrial ...