Asbestos and Fire: Technological Tradeoffs and the Body at Risk

by Rachel Maines

Overview

This thought-provoking and controversial book challenges the recent vilification of asbestos by providing a historical perspective on Americans' changing perceptions about risk. Rachel Maines suggests that the very success of asbestos and other fire-prevention technologies in containing deadly blazes has led to a sort of historical amnesia about the very risks they were supposed to reduce. Asbestos and Fire is an important contribution to a larger debate that considers how the risks of technological solutions should be evaluated.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813570235
Publisher:	Rutgers University Press
Publication date:	08/30/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	8 MB

About the Author

RACHEL MAINES, PhD, is a visiting scientist in the Cornell University School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. She is the author of The Technology of Orgasm: Hysteria, the Vibrator, and Women's Sexual Satisfaction and Hedonizing Technologies: Pathways to Pleasure in Hobbies and Leisure.

Table of Contents

Illustrations
Tables
Preface
1 The Asbestos Technology Decision Environment
2 Asbestos before 1880: From Natural Wonder to Industrial Material
3 The Rise of the Asbestos Curtain
4 Mass Destruction by Fire: Asbestos in World War II
5 Schools, Homes, and Workplaces: Fire Prevention in the Postwar Built Environment
6 The Asbestos Tort Conflagration
Appendix A: Some Asbestos End-Uses in the United States, 1850-1990
Appendix B: Selected List of Organizations Specifying Asbestos in Codes, Standards or Recommendations, 1880-1980
Notes
Index

Editorial Reviews

"Asbestos and Fire adds a highly useful volume to the growing shelf of books that tell the 'life story' of industrial materials that build, support, and also sometimes imperil modern life."

Technology and Culture

"For anyone interested in the history of health and safety this is a book worth reading."

EH.NET

"Against a backdrop in which the mere mention of 'asbestos' strikes fear, Rachel Maines reminds readers of the valuable role asbestos has played as an insulating and fire-stopping material. She shows the complexity of technological solutions through the example of asbestos: how and why a material developed for the purpose of saving lives was withdrawn from the market when its risks were perceived to outweigh its benefits. Anyone wanting to know about the history of asbestos use will find this book to be an excellent reference."

author of The Fireproof Building - Sara E. Wermiel

"Against a backdrop in which the mere mention of 'asbestos' strikes fear, Rachel Maines reminds readers of the valuable role asbestos has played as an insulating and fire-stopping material. She shows the complexity of technological solutions through the example of asbestos: how and why a material developed for the purpose of saving lives was withdrawn from the market when its risks were perceived to outweigh its benefits. Anyone wanting to know about the history of asbestos use will find this book to be an excellent reference."

From the Publisher