Clean Books

There are several books published that aim to describe the history of public health in America. These books are often filled with dates and facts and struggle to separate themselves from books on the history of medicine. Ruth Clifford Engs' "Clean Living Movements", while a book on the history of public health, is not one of those books.

Engs describes the history of public health in the United States clearly and concisely as a series of 3 distinct health reform cycles (1830 - 1860, 1880 - 1920, and 1970 - 2005). Each cycle has ebbed and flowed, and each cycle has followed the same order of stages: moral suasion, coercion, backlash, and complacency. Engs gives the reader a well-organized outline of each "clean living movement" with enough supporting facts on the religious, political, technological, economic, cultural, and demographic changes surrounding each cycle that influenced views on health and health reform, making it unique (and sometimes similar) to the other cycles. Some topics she discusses are smoking, alcohol and drug consumption, exercise, eugenics, and sexuality. She also describes prominent health reformers in each cycle in detail.

This is my favorite book on public health history to date, as it is very easy to read and Engs strongly and clearly makes her case of the cyclical nature of health reform. It is well-organized, simply written, and well-researched. This text is quite sociological, historical, and anthropological, making it accessible to diverse readers, and includes an exhaustive list of references.

I used this book for a lengthy paper on the representations of women in the Canterbury Tales and it really sticks in my mind. It was informative, intelligent, and easy to read. Fantastic book!

Really great book,I would say a manual for everybody,who wants to live according to catholic true.Very helpfull to cope with sexuality.I recommend this book even to noncatholics.

I have been interested in alternative energy since Junior High (and for me that was 25 years ago); this is the first book that has really motivated me to do something about clean energy and the environment. It is a must read for anyone that breathes air and drives a car! I think that includes just about all of us on "Spaceship Earth" (in memory of the Late R. Buckminster Fuller). The Clean Power Revolution contains over 200 cited footnotes from 3rd party sources to back up the message and narrative.

It covers a lot of information that I needed. It goes inside the material very deeply.

Very good primer on issues related to water pollution and drinking water. After giving a very quick study of issues relating to water chemistry and microbiology, describes the causes of water pollution. He devotes an entire chapter to the issue of drinking water, but also discusses issues relating to pollution in lakes streams, and the ocean. He describes in understandable form, the effects on aquatic life of water pollution. His glossary is also most useful when you may have forgotten a term previously discussed in the book. I am not an expert and possibly a more scientific person would find fault with the book. Ditto-heads may consider him an environmental wacko, because of his recommendations for preventing water pollution. For a basic understnding of the issues of water pollution, I think it is an outstanding book.

This book is worth its weight in gold! I learned so much about the dos and don'ts about keeping my family and our home naturally, healthy. This book disspelled a number of myths and sheds some light on the mystery of moving in a "green" direction. I've made a number of changes in our home since reading this book, and at little to no extra expense. I particularly love the resource section of this book, which offers a plethora of websites and contacts that will take a person to the next level in their quest to "go green." The author organizes the chapters & topics very well, making the book easy to read. The colors and graphics are exceptionally pleasing. I bought more copies for Mother's Day gifts, classroom teacher & Girl Scout leader end of year gifts, a wedding shower and a baby shower gift. This was a great find!

This is a great book - not a new one - published some time ago, but it has great, simple to follow "recipes" for making non-toxic cleaners for your home.

Parents and children both can relate to this Saturday morning tale of a kid just wanting to enjoy his Saturday and a mom just wanting Harvey to get busy cleaning his room. The pictures are vibrant and help tell the tale of a room that's truly a mess. Find out if Harvey does a good job so he can get back to his relaxing Saturday...

This is the second installment in the Inappropriate Library series. The series looks to have been started for kids (still can be) but this second book is a little more horror. The series deals with the Library of Alexandria having been formed with the spirits of people inhabiting books. This book deals with a book that was heading for storage to the Library getting lost and in the hands of a guy looking for revenge. Events take place in the 1980s (nice period piece touch) prior to the first book. The Inappropriate Library Author is getting better with the series with this book.

Looking forward to more stories.

Recommended.