Why does New York City smell? Is its smell distinguishable from that of other large cities? Does that smell tell us something about the world that our other senses cannot? Last year we spoke to historian Melanie Kiechle, who has devoted a considerable amount of brain- and nose-power to our long relationship with the scents around us. Her book, Smell Detectives, is an olfactory history of 19th-century urban America, from delightful scents to foul stenches, including those that everyday citizens used to bolster the budding environmental movement.
Go beyond the episode:
- Melanie Kiechle’s Smell Detectives: An Olfactory History of Nineteenth-Century Urban America
- On our episode page, we've got sanitary surveys of New Orleans and New York, along with sketches of the early respirators people used to protect themselves from foul odors
- Check out a modern-day smell map of the City of Light (and odor), from graphic designer Kate McLean
- Live in Pittsburgh? Download Smell PGH, the app that tracks pollution odors (read more here)
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