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Book Eating Smoke

    Book Details:
  • Author : Mark Tebeau
  • Publisher : JHU Press
  • Release : 2012-09-01
  • ISBN : 1421412500
  • Pages : 450 pages

Download or read book Eating Smoke written by Mark Tebeau and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2012-09-01 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the period of America's swiftest industrialization and urban growth, fire struck fear in the hearts of city dwellers as did no other calamity. Before the Civil War, sweeping blazes destroyed more than $200 million in property in the nation's largest cities. Between 1871 and 1906, conflagrations left Chicago, Boston, Baltimore, and San Francisco in ruins. Into the twentieth century, this dynamic hazard intensified as cities grew taller and more populous, confounding those who battled it. Firefighters' death-defying feats captured the popular imagination but too often failed to provide more than symbolic protection. Hundreds of fire insurance companies went bankrupt because they could not adequately deal with the effects of even smaller blazes. Firefighters and fire insurers created a physical and cultural infrastructure whose legacy—in the form of heroic firefighters, insurance policies, building standards, and fire hydrants—lives on in the urban built environment. In Eating Smoke, Mark Tebeau shows how the changing practices of firefighters and fire insurers shaped the built landscape of American cities, the growth of municipal institutions, and the experience of urban life. Drawing on a wealth of fire department and insurance company archives, he contrasts the invention of a heroic culture of firefighters with the rational organizational strategies by fire underwriters. Recognizing the complexity of shifting urban environments and constantly experimenting with tools and tactics, firefighters fought fire ever more aggressively—"eating smoke" when they ventured deep into burning buildings or when they scaled ladders to perform harrowing rescues. In sharp contrast to the manly valor of firefighters, insurers argued that the risk was quantifiable, measurable, and predictable. Underwriters managed hazard with statistics, maps, and trade associations, and they eventually agitated for building codes and other reforms, which cities throughout the nation implemented in the twentieth century. Although they remained icons of heroism, firefighters' cultural and institutional authority slowly diminished. Americans had begun to imagine fire risk as an economic abstraction. By comparing the simple skills employed by firefighters—climbing ladders and manipulating hoses—with the mundane technologies—maps and accounting charts—of insurers, the author demonstrates that the daily routines of both groups were instrumental in making intense urban and industrial expansion a less precarious endeavor.

Book Legislative Documents  Comprising the Department and Other Reports Made to the Senate and House of Representatives of Pennsylvania During the Session of

Download or read book Legislative Documents Comprising the Department and Other Reports Made to the Senate and House of Representatives of Pennsylvania During the Session of written by Pennsylvania and published by . This book was released on 1861 with total page 1166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book Miscellaneous Documents  Read in the Legislature of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

Download or read book Miscellaneous Documents Read in the Legislature of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania written by Pennsylvania. General Assembly and published by . This book was released on 1861 with total page 1166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book Report of the State Librarian

Download or read book Report of the State Librarian written by Pennsylvania State Library and published by . This book was released on 1855 with total page 570 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Includes catalogs of accessions and special bibliographical supplements.

Book Report of State Librarian

Download or read book Report of State Librarian written by Pennsylvania State Library and published by . This book was released on 1859 with total page 88 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book Bibliotheca Americana

Download or read book Bibliotheca Americana written by Joseph Sabin and published by . This book was released on 1885 with total page 596 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book A Dictionary of Books Relating to America

Download or read book A Dictionary of Books Relating to America written by Joseph Sabin and published by . This book was released on 1885 with total page 600 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book The National Union Catalog  Pre 1956 Imprints

Download or read book The National Union Catalog Pre 1956 Imprints written by and published by . This book was released on 1968 with total page 712 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book Bibliotheca Americana

Download or read book Bibliotheca Americana written by Maggs Bros and published by . This book was released on 1962 with total page 1176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book American Book Publishing Record Cumulative  1876 1949

Download or read book American Book Publishing Record Cumulative 1876 1949 written by R.R. Bowker Company. Department of Bibliography and published by . This book was released on 1980 with total page 936 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book The Insurance Almanac and Encyclopedia

Download or read book The Insurance Almanac and Encyclopedia written by and published by . This book was released on 1927 with total page 1218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book Law Books  1876 1981

    Book Details:
  • Author : R.R. Bowker Company
  • Publisher : New York : R.R. Bowker Company
  • Release : 1981
  • ISBN :
  • Pages : 736 pages

Download or read book Law Books 1876 1981 written by R.R. Bowker Company and published by New York : R.R. Bowker Company. This book was released on 1981 with total page 736 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book Encyclopedia of Philadelphia

Download or read book Encyclopedia of Philadelphia written by Joseph Jackson and published by . This book was released on 1931 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book Insurance Almanac and Encyclopedia

Download or read book Insurance Almanac and Encyclopedia written by and published by . This book was released on 1925 with total page 1088 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book Brooklyn Daily Eagle Almanac

Download or read book Brooklyn Daily Eagle Almanac written by and published by . This book was released on 1917 with total page 698 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book Insurance Almanac and Who s who in Insurance

Download or read book Insurance Almanac and Who s who in Insurance written by and published by . This book was released on 1939 with total page 1194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: