About the Author

Suellen Hoy teaches American History at the University of Notre Dame. She is the co-author of From Dublin to New Orleans: The Journey of Nora and Alice.

Reviews

"Readers will never look upon their surroundings or their personal hygiene in quite the same way."--Science
"Lively and reassuring....Thorough, accurate, and very readable."--The Boston Sunday Globe
"A tour de force of social history,"--American Heritage
"Deft and fascinating."--The Women's Review of Books
"The pursuit of Americans from filth and devilness to cleanliness and godliness is clearly and wittily detailed here."--Journal of American Culture
"Anyone reading Hoy's book will recall their own experiences with the U.S. edict of cleanliness. Reading the book gives one a greater appreciation for the conditions which necessitated the movement for cleanliness."--The Journal of Consumer Affairs
"Suellen Hoy's broadly researched book on the pursuit of cleanliness in the United States is entertaining and full of interesting facts."--The Journal of American History
"A fascinating review of American social history from a new perspective, one that offers fresh ideas on gender relations, environmental issues, and the underpinnings of our national identity."--Benjamin Orlove, Professor of Environmental Studies, University of California, Davis
"Hoy's social history is at its best when it traces the evolution of women's burdens to cook, wash dishes, scrub floors, beat rugs, launder linens, make grocery lists, do the shopping--and then take care of the kids."--In These Times
"When it came to controlling disease through public hygiene, women played a crucial role....During the Crimean War, what well-known medical figure pioneered sanitation in battlefield hospitals? Florence Nightingale. During the Civil War, what famous author steeled herself against the 'vilest odors that ever assaulted the human nose' and, along with her fellow nurses, scrubbed wagonloads of Union wounded? Louisa May Alcott.'--Vogue
"Sprightly and informative account of American cleanliness....Hoy's account of the American pursuit of cleanliness skirts the tangled psychology and sociology of dirty and clean....She has a genuinely upbeat story to tell. The pursuit of cleanliness brought us hot water and the stall shower, benefits of civilization few Americans would care to relinquish."--The New Republic
"Chasing Dirt is neat! Suellen Hoy has scoured the country for source material on the history of cleanliness. She has addressed her subject with a very dry wit and impeccable scholarship. The result is exciting social history: free of jargon dustballs, insightful, cutting close to the bone of our national fixation."--Ruth Schwartz Cowan, author of More Work for Mother
"A spirited account of changing American mores."--Kirkus Reviews
"Offers the first systematic analysis of America's preoccupation with cleanliness. Hoy has unearthed a fascinating array of material related to this neglected subject and has woven it into a finely textured narrative, rich in color and inishgt. She makes social history come alive with interest and significance....[R]equired reading for all those interested in the relationship between sanitary philosophy and public policy."--David E. Shi, President, Furman
University
"An exciting blend of environmental and social history that examines the nation's fascination with keeping itself clean and healthy. In a graceful and witty narrative, Hoy traces the campaigns and crusades that transformed American attitudes toward dirt. She is especially persuasive and informed on the key role that women played in this significant historical process. The result is a fine book that should have wide appeal to readers everywhere."--Lewis L.
Gould, author of Lady Bird Johnson and the Environment
"Suellen Hoy tells the captivating story of how cleanliness found its rank 'next to godliness' in the United States. She gives soap and water the central place they deserve in American social history. Students of health reform, business, ethnicity, urban planning, domesticity, and education will all learn from Hoy's account of a fundamental transformation in American culture and life."--Donna R. Gabaccia, Charles H. Stone Professor of American History,
University of North Carolina, Charlotte
"Fascinating social history."--Booklist
"Exhaustively researched social history of America's evolution from incredible filth to obsessive cleanliness....Chasing Dirt excels in laying out the facts of the sanitation movement itself, of the few men and...the many women whose tireless efforts combined to transform America from the grimy butt of Europe's contempt to the antiseptic target of its bewilderment."--Baltimore Sun
"What's striking about her subject is its complexity....Chronicles the evolution of American attitudes toward hygiene..."--The Chicago Tribune
"Groundbreaking social history."--Notre Dame Magazine
"An in-depth look at what had become, by the mid-20th century at least, a defining characteristic of middle-class Americans....A very welcome study. Hoy has given us much to think about."--Technology and Culture
"In this well-written study, the author explores how the United States became obsessed with cleanliness....[T]houghtful and well-researched."--The Historian