The Dirt on Clean: An Unsanitized History - Katherine Ashenburg

The Dirt on Clean is a delightful account of hygiene throughout history, from the sumptuous baths and strigil of the Romans, to the hydrophobia of the Dark Ages, to today's neurotic obsession with sterility, and everything in between. The course of humanity's love/hate relationship with cleanliness is surprising, fascinating, and sometimes repellent. Packed with diverting factoids, quotes, and anecdotes, this book makes for very pleasurable light reading.