Contested Waters: A Social History of Swimming Pools in America
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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. — The Washington Post - John L. Jackson Jr. As this extremely readable narrative makes clear, empty and discarded public swimming pools exemplify the decay and decimation of post-Civil Rights urban America and the squandering of communal possibilities. In the end, Wiltse persuasively shows that there are some very serious consequences to how Americans play together -- and to when and why they decide that they won't.
Contents Acknowledgments Introduction: "Just Don't Touch the Water" Chapter 1. A "Peculiar Kind" of Bath: The Origin of Municipal Pools in America Chapter 2. "A Means of Physical Culture": The Redefinition of Municipal Pools d
