Thames Embankment

$29.95

Environment, Technology, and Society in Victorian London

by Dale H. Porter

Pages: 318; Size: 6″ x 9″
Series: Technology and the Environment

SKU: 978-1-884836-29-9 Category: Tags: ,

Description

The embankment of the Thames River in Victorian London is usually considered the final element of the London Main Drainage, a great engineering project that carried the sewage of the crowded metropolis down the valley and ended the toxic pollution of the river and surrounding neighborhoods. But the Embankment, whose construction took almost fifty years from concept to completion, achieved fame in its own right, as an immense, expensive, and successful event that reflected the cultural ecology of Victorian society

In this richly detailed and multifaceted study, Dale H. Porter reveals the complex weave of values and practices–environmental, political, economic, technological, and aesthetic–that made possible the building of these structures that altered and became a permanent part of the London riverscape. Above all, The Thames Embankment shows how innovations in technology, in environmental assessment, and in public policy formations not only lead to public works projects but are, in turn, stimulated and shaped by them.

The Thames Embankment is one of those books like Asa Briggs’ Victorian Cities that provides a kind of imaginative archaeology, permitting modern students of Victorian literature, art, and culture to gain a sense of an age that simultaneously had so much and so little in common with our own. . . . [It] is a treasure trove for any one wanting to understand and experience more of Victorian England.
—George P. Landow, Professor of English and Art History, Brown University

About the author

Dale Porter

Dale H. Porter is a professor emeritus of history and humanities at Western Michigan University. He received his BA at Western Michigan University, his MA at Stanford University, and his PhD at the University of Oregon. He has published two books, The Abolition of the Slave Trade in England, 1784–1807 and The Emergence of the Past: A Theory of Historical Explanation, and contributed to many journals, including History of Technology, Victorian Studies, and History and Theory.

Additional information

Binding

Paperback

Series

Technology and the Environment

Author(s)

Dale Porter

Pub Date

2009