Breathing space

Gregg Mitman examines allergies as a force that has reshaped American society, its physical terrain, and everyday routines. Using environmental, medical, and cultural history, he follows the lives of people, plants, and insects to show how the country's surroundings have changed since the late nineteenth century, and why allergic illness has spread so widely.

Americans have tried many remedies over the decades, including hay fever resorts, herbicides, air-conditioned houses, and a steady supply of tonics and tablets. Mitman argues that none of these has delivered the cure people hoped for. The reason, he contends, is that the physical, biological, social, and economic conditions that produced what he calls an allergic landscape have never been seriously addressed.

The book is written for readers interested in the history of medicine, the environment, and how everyday life is shaped by the places people live. Mitman is a historian of science and medicine who writes about the environment's role in human health.