Sick Building Syndrome and the Problem of Uncertainty: Environmental Politics, Technoscience, and Women Workers. Michelle Murphy. Durham: Duke University Press, illustrations; 2006; x+253 pages; ISBN 0-8223-3671-5; $21.95US (paper).
This book exam ines the modern office building and the history of sick building syndrom e (SBS), which by the 1990s was the most comm only investigated occupational health problem in the United States. Murphy defines SBS as a postmodern problem: a syndrome with "a diversity of ill health effects, m ostly m inor and associated with a building, for which no specific cause was found" (6). Using a Foucauldian framework, each thematic chapter examines the different but entwined histories and practices through which buildings and bodies are connected, including ventilation engineering, building design, feminist activism , popular epidemiology, governm ent policy, ecology and corporate science, to bring together the com plex discourses that name and define SBS and the uncertainty that is borne out from these multiple histories.
Murphy provides a concise history of women's office work in the United States, including a detailed examination of the wom en office workers' movement of the 1970s and 1980s. This history of women's

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activism and the use of popular epidemiological methods and feminist consciousness raising to expose women's experiences of occupational health hazards is particularly engaging. It is brought to the modern day in the final chapter through Murphy's excellent analysis of discourses surrounding multiple chem ical sensitivities (MCS) and the fragmented MCS movement occurring in Internet chat room s, support groups and other "informal cells" where groups work to define and explain what biom edicine has thus far labeled undefinable and im aginary. As someone interested prim arily in wom en's health, I found these to be the most engaging portions of the book. However, this is not to take away from the very thorough and important exploration of the history of other sites which contributed to the uncertain nature of SBS. Murphy's examination of the physical space of the modern office is particularly important since this workplace is where many North American workers spend their days.
This book is written prim arily for an academic audience and would be most useful for advanced students of historical studies of labour and science, environm ental studies and wom en's studies. It would also be of interest to those in labour, public health and government who wish to better understand the historical forces and com plex confluence of factors contributing to SBS/MCS and their status in both healthcare and the workplace.
Like the problem itself, this book is complex. Murphy handles the com plexity well and the book is detailed, rich and unfolds nicely. The engaging prose made m e think about lurking bacteria, moulds and insects and had me questioning the bright yellow asbestos warning stickers on the walls of my office. It should be noted that Murphy deftly avoids answering the question "Is it real?" and instead forces the reader to consider how both SBS and MCS are constructed through a collection of contested and uncertain discourses which challenge how m uch is known about

environmental exposures and human health.
Stephannie C. Roy University of Toronto