Name: Sewer
SKU: 54271219
Price: 15.58 EUR
Availability: InStock
Author: Jessica Leigh Hester
ISBN: 9781501379505

Type

Physical Book

Author

Illustrated by

Publisher

Language

English

Pages

200

Format

Paperback

Dimensions

15.7x12.2x3.3 cm

Weight

0.45

ISBN13

9781501379505

Synopsis "Sewer"

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. What can underground pipes tell us about human eating habits and the spread or containment of disease, such as COVID-19? Why are sewers spitting out plastic and trash into waterways around the world? How are clogs getting gnarlier and more numerous? Jessica Leigh Hester leads readers through the past, present, and future of the system humans have created to deal with our own waste and argues that sewers can be seen as a mirror to the world above at a time when our behaviors are drastically reshaping the environment for the worse. Sifting through the muck offers a fresh way to approach questions about urbanization, public health, infrastructure, ecology, sustainability, and consumerism- and what we value. Without understanding sewers, any attempt to steward the future is incomplete. Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.

Jessica Leigh Hester

(Author)

View Author's Page

I am a PhD student in history at Johns Hopkins University. My work focuses on the legacies of grave robbing committed by and for medical schools in the Northeastern United States in the 19th century, and the many ways marginalized communities leveraged these incidents to make social, political, and economic claims. I am deeply committed to working with descendant communities and with public history and digital humanities.

Besides my academic work, I am a science journalist focused on ecology, with a particular interest in trash, wastewater, and other ways human influence spreads across the globe. I also have extensive experience as a commissioning editor, conceptualizing, commissioning, editing, and producing articles, news, and packages. (I also continue to work freelance and would love to discuss commissions). My first book, on the science of sewers, is now available at Bloomsbury. My second book, on the Anthropocene fossils, is soon to be published at Random House. My articles have appeared in The New Yorker, New York Times Magazine, New York Times, The Atlantic, and more. My essay for the New York Times magazine is featured as a standout selection in the list of the best American writing on science and nature for 2024.

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