Fat: A Cultural History of Obesity
"In his splendid and timely book, [Gilman] provides a terrific assessment of the cultural history of obesity."Tribune"This book will be useful to students of culture and social identity, concentrating as it does on the historical debates surrounding obesity."Times Higher Education"[Fat] offers an engaging and suggestive reading with which all historians of fat, food, and modern dietary regimes will want to engage."H-Net: Humanities and Social Science Reviews Online"Sander Gilman makes a nuanced and richly documented argument about the historical, cultural, and scientific contingency of concepts such as 'fat', 'obesity', and 'health'. This book is a powerful demonstration of how moralistic prejudices influence public health discourse, and our ideas of what constitutes diseases and epidemics. It is an invaluable contribution to the contemporary interdisciplinary critique of our moral panic over fat."Paul Campos,University of Colorado"InFat, Sander Gilman artfully skewers the cultural tropes and myths surrounding one of the leading moral panics of our time - America's so-called obesity epidemic. Gilman unearths the hidden agendas and historical precedents that allow for our growing weight to be labelled as a deadly disease. Through his wit and erudition,Fatis an invaluable perspective for anyone wanting a more nuanced perspective about health, culture, and society."Eric Oliver, University of Chicago, author ofFat Politics