Joel A. Tarr. The Search for the Ultimate Sink: Urban Pollution
in Historical Perspective. Ohio: University of Akron Press,
1996. xlvii + 419 pp. Joel A. Tarr. The Search for the Ultimate
Sink: Urban Pollution in Historical Perspective. Akron:
University of Akron Press, 1996. xlvii + 419 pp. $29.95 (paper),
ISBN 978-1-884836-06-0; $49.95 (cloth), ISBN 978-1-884836-05-3.
Reviewed by Melissa G. Wiedenfeld (Rogers University) Published
on H-Environment (February, 1998) Dealing with Urban and
Industrial Waste As America industrialized, and as population
density created pressure on the environment, Americans looked
for ways to clean air, water, and land, and to find a place to
put urban and industrial wastes that would not further damage
the environment^×thus the "search for the ultimate sink." For
many years, Joel Tarr of Carnegie Mellon University has
researched and written about the problems and solutions
concerning the relocation of wastes in urban American history.
His essays and articles--both new and previo