![]() | American Sunshine: Diseases of Darkness and the Quest for Natural Light Subjects: History of Medicine History of Science and Technology; Intellectual History Social and Cultural History; Modern History (1700 to 1945); In the second half of the nineteenth century, American cities began to go dark. Hulking new buildings overspread blocks, pollution obscured the skies, and glass and smog screened out the health-giving rays of the sun. Doctors fed anxities about these new conditions with claims about a rising tide of the "diseases of darkness," especially rickets and tuberculosis. Daniel Freund is assistant professor of social sciences at Bard High School Early College. |
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