Remains of the Everyday

"Remains of the Everyday is an outstanding contribution to the literature on modern China and a brilliant marriage of social and environmental history. From reconstructions of the early twentieth-century junk trade, to excavations of socialist-era waste bureaucracies, and explorations of present-day plastics recycling, Joshua Goldstein shines new light on critical questions of social justice and sustainability."--Sigrid Schmalzer, Professor of History, University of Massachusetts Amherst "I could not put this book down. This is a riveting account of a century of waste history that too few have heard of and yet nearly everyone in the world has been affected by. The book is not only timely, but it is also breathing new life into the growing literature of discard studies, while highlighting the Chinese state's ambitious approach to waste."--Joshua O. Reno, author of Military Waste: The Unexpected Consequences of Permanent War Readiness