Undressed Toronto: From the Swimming Hole to Sunnyside, How a City Learned to Love the Beach, 1850-1935

"Undressed Toronto is a unique take on social and environmental history. It invokes a nostalgia for summer days of beachside revels, while also reminding us that bathing gave nineteenth-century women a new pastime, gave men a new way to demonstrate masculinity, and provided citizens with natural spaces to escape to from the increasingly industrialised city. Exploring Toronto through its waterways and beaches, Undressed Toronto is as delightful and refreshing as a summer evening’s dip."

Claudine Fortin, Ontario History

"Readers interested in urban environmental history and the history of recreation will find this book especially valuable. For me, the book’s most significant contribution is its portrayal of “hybrid spaces” and Torontonians’ embodied encounters with them. Undressed Toronto shows how industry and nature co-existed and even enabled bathing in the urban environment."

Mary-Ann Shantz, Network in Canadian History & Environment

"With its attention to questions of social identity and place, Dale Barbour’s study of bathing in Toronto is a welcome addition. As Toronto and other cities rediscover the pleasures and economic value of their rivers and waterfronts, [Undressed Toronto] reminds us of the messy process that first brought modern urbanites to the beach."

Daniel Ross, The Canadian Historical Review

"The valuable and fascinating primary sources help readers unfamiliar with Toronto's geography understand the topic and dynamics at play in Barbour's book... Barbour's narrative is an essential addition to Toronto's history, leisure studies, cultural geography, and gender studies." Anne Barjolin-Smith, H-Environment