SKU: 57030060778

The Dirt on Clean: An Unsanitized History

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Description

The Dirt on Clean: An Unsanitized HistoryA spirited chronicle of the West's ambivalent relationship with dirt The question of cleanliness is one every age and culture has answered with confidence. For the first century Roman, being clean meant a two hour soak in baths of various temperatures, scraping the body with a miniature rake, and a final application of oil. For the aristocratic Frenchman in the seventeenth century, it meant changing your shirt once a day and perhaps going so far as to

A spirited chronicle of the West's ambivalent relationship with dirt

The question of cleanliness is one every age and culture has answered with confidence. For the first-century Roman, being clean meant a two-hour soak in baths of various temperatures, scraping the body with a miniature rake, and a final application of oil. For the aristocratic Frenchman in the seventeenth century, it meant changing your shirt once a day and perhaps going so far as to dip your hands in some water. Did Napoleon know something we didn't when he wrote Josephine I will return in five days. Stop washing? And why is the German term Warmduscher--a man who washes in warm or hot water--invariably a slight against his masculinity? Katherine Ashenburg takes on such fascinating questions as these in Dirt on Clean, her charming tour of attitudes to hygiene through time.

What could be more routine than taking up soap and water and washing yourself? And yet cleanliness, or the lack of it, is intimately connected to ideas as large as spirituality and sexuality, and historical events that include plagues, the Civil War, and the discovery of germs. An engrossing fusion of erudition and anecdote, Dirt on Clean considers the bizarre prescriptions of history's doctors, the hygienic peccadilloes of great authors, and the historic twists and turns that have brought us to a place Ashenburg considers hedonistic yet oversanitized.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: St. Martins Press-3PL
Published: 10/28/2008
ISBN: 9780374531379
Pages: 358
Weight: 1.20lbs
Size: 9.00h x 5.90w x 0.90d

Review Citations: New York Times Book Review 01/04/2009 pg. 20
Books & Culture 07/01/2009 pg. 10

Accelerated Reader Quiz #/Name: 123776 / Dirt on Clean: An Unsanitized History
Reading Level: 9.7 / Interest Level: Upper Grade / Point Value: 14
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SKU: 57030060778

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michael parsley
Houston, US
★★★★★ 5
Super tough
Color: Red Warthog
My dogs love these toys!!!
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Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2026
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Amazon Customer
Boise, US
★★★★★ 5
Long lasting play toy!
Color: Multicolor
Tuffy toys in general are great and they are a pretty good deal on Amazon. They are not indestructible, and if your dogs use them as chew toys they will eventually break through. My dogs have had this Armadillo since Christmas (and they do chew on it some) and the only thing missing is an ear. They like to play tug-of-war with it a lot. This is a bigger toy, but even my forty pound dog plays with it. I would not recommend this toy for dogs smaller than Border Collie size. You can make these Tuffy toys last longer if you don't allow your dogs to chew them--when your dogs starts chewing on non-chew toys trade them for a chew toy and when you catch your dog chewing on a chew-approved toy reward them for chewing. Eventually your dog will catch on and realize that if they want to chew there are certain toys that are allowed for that. In addition to being a great play toy this is a pretty cute toy too!
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Reviewed in the United States on June 30, 2015
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Amazon Customer
Phoenix, US
★★★★★ 1
Not Tuff
Color: Black Yellow Phrog, Color: Black Yellow Phrog
Absolutely terrible and not “tuff” at all. My chocolate lab had this thing destroyed in less than two hours. I would not recommend these for the price.
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Reviewed in the United States on April 11, 2026
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Carrie Ann Moore
Lake Worth, US
★★★★★ 3
Cute but Not Durable
Color: 2PK Green Leaping Phrog
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Cute but Not Durable Super cute toy—my dogs loved it right away! Unfortunately, they chewed the head off within a few hours. I ordered a second one because they were so into it, but the same thing happened again. I won’t be ordering a third, but they still play with their two headless frogs. So while it’s not the most durable, it definitely kept them entertained!
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Reviewed in the United States on June 9, 2025
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Lauren
New York, US
★★★★★ 3
Puppy loves! Supposed to be part of a set though??
Style: Coconut Tree
Bought this simply because we named our puppy Coco and was on a roll ordering her toys… she ended up absolutely LOVING this tiny palm tree!! Maybe because of the size and she was able to really handle it, she takes it everywhere with her and loves the squeaker. HOWEVER, the item is a lot smaller than I expected when ordering for almost $10 and the plastic packaging it came in says “not intended for individual sale, part of a pack” so I would not purchase from this seller again. I will maybe try to find this included with the intended set of toys.
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Reviewed in the United States on May 28, 2022

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