Contested waters: a social history of swimming pools in America

Introduction : "just don't touch the water"

A "peculiar kind" of bath : the origin of municipal pools in America

"A means of physical culture" : the redefinition of municipal pools during the 1890s

"A good investment in health, character, and citizenship" : municipal swimming pools in the Progressive Era

Interlude : the traumatic early history of Fairgrounds Park Pool

The "swimming pool age" : 1920 to 1940

"One for the white race and the other for the colored race" : the onset of racial discrimination, 1920 to 1940

"More sensitive than schools" : the struggle to desegregate municipal swimming pools

"Alone in the backyard" : swimming pools in recent America

Conclusion : the promise and reality of swimming pools as public spaces.