Synopses & Reviews
"An excellent and well-crafted social history. . . . Valuable for its presentation of the physical geography of swimming pools, but even more importantly for inviting readers to see individual and personal behavior in public space as a form of social and cultural reproduction."
H-Net "I had always stared at those intriguing pictures of America’s gigantic municipal pools of bygone eras, always curious as to who spent their days wading and plunging in those vast waters. Now I read with fascination, in Contested Waters, how the swimming pools of America were the quintessential backdrop of race, gender, and class relations for more than a century of our history. This book makes me long to have experienced afternoons in those historic swimming holes."--Diana Nyad "A significant plunge into American sexism and sexuality, racism, class division, immigration, urbanity, and determined good will and reform, Contested Waters proves an original and insightful opening on the cultural significances of modern water recreation."--John R. Stilgoe, Robert & Lois Orchard Professor in the History of Landscape, Harvard University
Review
"I had always stared at those intriguing pictures of America’s gigantic municipal pools of bygone eras, always curious as to who spent their days wading and plunging in those vast waters. Now I read with fascination, in Contested Waters, how the swimming pools of America were the quintessential backdrop of race, gender, and class relations for more than a century of our history. This book makes me long to have experienced afternoons in those historic swimming holes."--Diana Nyad
Review
"I had always stared at those intriguing pictures of America’s gigantic municipal pools of bygone eras, always curious as to who spent their days wading and plunging in those vast waters. Now I read with fascination, in Contested Waters, how the swimming pools of America were the quintessential backdrop of race, gender, and class relations for more than a century of our history. This book makes me long to have experienced afternoons in those historic swimming holes."--Diana Nyad
Review
"A significant plunge into American sexism and sexuality, racism, class division, immigration, urbanity, and determined good will and reform, Contested Waters proves an original and insightful opening on the cultural significances of modern water recreation."--John R. Stilgoe, Robert & Lois Orchard Professor in the History of Landscape, Harvard University
Synopsis
From 19th-century public baths to today's private backyard havens, swimming pools have been a provocative symbol of American life. In this social and cultural history of swimming pools in the U.S., Wiltse relates how, over the years, pools have served as asylums for the urban poor, leisure resorts for the masses, and private clubs for middle-class suburbanites. As sites of race riots, shrinking swimsuits, and conspicuous leisure, swimming pools reflect the tensions and transformations that have given rise to modern America.
Synopsis
From nineteenth-century public baths to today's private backyard havens, swimming pools have long been a provocative symbol of American life. In this social and cultural history of swimming pools in the United States, Jeff Wiltse relates how, over the years, pools have served as asylums for the urban poor, leisure resorts for the masses, and private clubs for middle-class suburbanites. As sites of race riots, shrinking swimsuits, and conspicuous leisure, swimming pools reflect many of the tensions and transformations that have given rise to modern America.
About the Author
Jeff Wiltse is associate professor of history at the University of Montana.