Life in the Cities: Australia in the Victorian Age Volume 3 by Michael Cannon

Book Description

Secondhand. Book in very good condition with some wear near spine. Interior pages are in excellent condition and binding is still very good. Dust jacket is in very good condition with minor creasing at top and tail.

The final volume of Michael Cannon's saga on Australia in the Victorian age brings together the human factors which made our cities unique monuments to ambition and folly.

Contrary to romantic notions, the story of booming cities of the laissez-faire era was one of steadily deteriorating quality of life for most inhabitants. Problems of public health were appalling. The stench of cities and suburbs were notorious, affecting even middle-class areas, while urban waterways were quickly polluted by uncontrolled industrialisation and sewage. Mortal diseases like typhoid and tuberculosis stalked unchecked through households of rich and poor alike.