Describes how people have dealt with human wastes throughout history.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Poop matters -- Bad plumbing? Bad news -- The origin of feces -- An ionic twist: poor plumbing in ancient Greece -- When in Rome, poo as the Romans do -- The age of shovelry: poop in the Middle Ages -- The reeking Renaissance -- I smell London, I smell France -- All dressed up but nowhere to go -- Eighteenth-century England: flushing away troubles -- The early 1800s: the great unwashed move to town -- Vileness in the Victorian era -- Cholera: the disease that changed the world -- The revolting river -- The age of plumbers -- Sludge, American style -- Modern sanitation -- Toilet talk.