Perhaps there should be a warning on books which incubated as doctoral dissertations. Caution: This book is written research, not researched writing. I had the same reaction to this work as I had to Peter Silver's "Our Savage Neighbors"; it reads like a term paper. The 250 pages of text are supported by 50 pages of densely packed endnotes which would otherwise be very impressive if the reader were not constantly aware of the author's insistence on including in the text every iota of information cited in each endnote. It seems as if each factual assertion is followed by tedious, and eventually mind-numbing, examples of the punitive or corrective action taken by authorities. After a while, the reader suspects that the assertion is made so that the supporting material can be brought to bear, that such statements are merely bridges from one set of citations to the next. Don't take my word for it. At least some of the same ground is covered in books such as Kate Colquhoun's recently published "Taste" and Roy Porter's "English Society in the Eighteenth Century." Read a few pages of either to see what popular history is all about; solid research is assumed and essential to the credibility of the work, but it's the writing which makes each a distinguished addition to the genre. There is no doubt that a great deal of time and effort went into "Hubbub," enough to convince a university publisher that the end product just might succeed on the commercial market. If so, it will be the publisher and not the reader who will be richer for the exercise.

British historian Cockayne's fact-filled, copiously illustrated history digs into the less savory corners of 17th and 18th century urban life.

"This book is about how people were made to feel uncomfortable by other people - their noises, appearance, behavior, proximity and odours," Cockayne begins. She introduces us to some of the people who were kind enough to leave behind a written litany of their complaints and impressions, gives a brief overview of urban inconveniences of the time and then plunges happily into the squalor with chapters concentrating on various aspects of unpleasantness.

These chapters have pithy titles: Ugly, Itchy, Mouldy, Noisy, Grotty, Busy, Dirty, Gloomy, and, finally "Such things as these...disturb human life."

Poverty and overcrowding, together with a general lack of sanitation naturally provide much of what we pampered souls would find intolerable, but Cockayne, while delving deeply into these subjects, covers much more, from the cost and care of clothing across the social spectrum to the timeless social satire and condemnation of people who made themselves offensive by trying to act younger than they were.

Women come in for special approbation for everything from aging and bad housekeeping to talking - A ducking chair for "scolds" was a standard piece of public equipment in most towns.

She explores food spoilage and the devices sellers used to disguise its putrid state, the free discharge of waste from businesses like tanners and butchers, the prevalence of dangerous chemicals, roaming animals and air so thick that burning buildings were detected by the crackling noise of the fire rather than the sight of smoke.

All of this is as fascinating as it is disgusting and Cockayne has chosen numerous prints, including lots of Hogarth engravings, to illustrate the complaints of the times. While welcome, these would have been better served in a larger format as their details are difficult to make out without Cockayne's explanations.

Indeed, this is a problem with the book as a whole. Cockayne has crammed so much material into the available space that parts read more like a list than a narrative. The quotes, facts, and descriptions are fascinating, but difficult to absorb.

Copiously footnoted (with notes in the back, thankfully), this is a book that is best enjoyed in small doses.