Description
At the start of the twentieth century, the modern metropolis was a riot of sensation. City dwellers lived in an environment filled with smoky factories, crowded homes, and lively thoroughfares. Sights, sounds, and smells flooded their senses, while changing conceptions of health and decorum forced many to rethink their most banal gestures, from the way they negotiated speeding traffic to the use they made of public washrooms.
The Feel of the City exposes the sensory experiences of city-dwellers in Montreal and Brussels at the turn of the century and the ways in which these shaped the social and cultural significance of urban space. Using the experiences of municipal officials, urban planners, hygienists, workers, writers, artists, and ordinary citizens, Nicolas Kenny explores the implications of the senses for our understanding of modernity.
"Nicolas Kenny's fascinating study brings together urban history and the history of the senses in an intriguing new synthesis. The Feel of the City is essential reading for anyone interested in the experience of metropolitan living in the era of high modernity." -- Simon Gunn, Professor of Urban History, University of Leicester
About the Author
Nicolas Kenny is an associate professor in the Department of History at Simon Fraser University.
Reviews
'Kenny treats readers to an unusual but fascinating and valuable perspective on industrialization and urbanization... Highly recommended.'
-- J. Rogers * Choice Magazine, vol 52:02:2015 *Awards
Short-listed for Sir John A. Macdonald Prize awarded by Canadian Historical Association 2015 (Canada).
Book Information
ISBN 9781442615816
Author Nicolas Kenny
Format Paperback
Page Count 320
Imprint University of Toronto Press
Publisher University of Toronto Press
Weight(grams) 430g
Dimensions(mm) 231mm * 152mm * 20mm
