Political Reform
Corruption, politics, and trash: Award-winning book describes how Gilded Age cities cleaned up with dirty deals
September 12, 2024
6 min
At the peak of America’s Gilded Age, overflowing trash clogged city streets, but the cleanup wasn’t driven by reformers. Instead, corrupt politicians saw the waste crisis as a business opportunity, using backroom deals to transform sanitation systems—and line their pockets.