How One Gross Invention Added Decades to Human Life

About this episode

The episode explores the history of sanitation and its impact on human life.

On this episode of Our American Stories, before modern sanitation, cities were filthy, drinking water was often contaminated, and diseases like cholera and typhoid killed hundreds of thousands of people. Life in even the world's greatest cities could be dangerous, all because of a problem most people would rather not talk about. Our own Greg Hengler explores the surprising history of the toilet, sewer systems, and sanitation, tracing their evolution from ancient Rome to modern America. Along the way, he tells the story of the inventors, engineers, and public health pioneers whose overlooked innovations helped add decades to human life and made modern civilization possible. Support the show ( https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

People in this episode

Host: Greg Hengler

Topics covered

• sanitation
• history
• public health
• toilets
• sewer systems
• disease
• civilization

Keywords

• sanitation
• toilet history
• public health pioneers
• cholera
• typhoid
• sewer systems
• modern civilization

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Our American Stories

Places: ancient Rome, modern America

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