This leftist academic examination of our collective fascination
with dieting depicts it as a manifestation of capitalist consumer
culture duking it out with the secular remnants of puritanism.
Stearns, founding editor of the Journal of Social History and a
historian at Carnegie Mellon University (Millennium III, Century
XXI, 1996, etc.) approaches our concern over personal poundage as a
construct that, exceeding the demands of fashion or good health,
can be understood only in larger cultural terms. We Americans
relish the consumer goods with which we surround ourselves but feel
a mite guilty about indulging in them. So we have contrived a way
to - literally and figuratively - have our cake and eat it too: We
diet. Focusing intensely on limiting caloric intake lets us feel
virtuous and self-controlled even as we ignore our profligacy as
consumers. We are not all equally affected; notably, from the 1920s
to the 1960s "weight morality bore disproportionately on women
precisely because of their growing independence, or seeming
independence, from other standards." In France, the other society
considered, Stearns does not detect a view of weight loss as a
moral crusade or fat as an outward sign of guilt. For Americans,
rewards (a better job or social life) will come when they become
thin and healthy; for the French, being thin and healthy is the
reward. Interesting as the cross-cultural comparison is, one senses
that its neat findings slight some untidy questions. For example,
why does Stearns focus on the gender of the target of antifat
comments but not on that of their source? To what extent are
unattainable standards of slenderness invaluable in allowing people
to devote a portion of each crowded day to self-absorption? Does
that count as an expression of guilt? Those who agree with
Stearns's premise from the first page will readily accept his
illustrations as proof. Others may see this as an interesting study
that suggests the complexity of a phenomenon more convincingly than
it accounts for it. (Kirkus Reviews)
A Finalist for the "Los Angeles Times" Book Prize in History
"Stearns looks to explain why America is the fattest, and France
the thinnest, nation in the West. In his view, 'dieting was ideally
suited to an American need for an implicit but vigorous moral
counterweight to consumer indulgence.' At the turn of the century,
obesity was suddenly regarded as unhealthy and unpatriotic. Good
American citizens should be fit, and a generation of fad diet
experts sprung up to guide."
"--Elaine Showalter, Times Literary Supplement"
"Offers new, reliable information and insights."
"--The Nation"
"Explores the interaction of weight-control cultures with
gender, class, and ethnicity issues. A meaty study of historical
facts and fears about fat."
"--Booklist"
The modern struggle against fat cuts deeply and pervasively into
American culture, as evidenced by the compulsion to stay thin, or
at least to profess a desire to become thin. Dieting, weight
consciousness and widespread hostility to obesity form one of the
fundamental themes of modern life in countries around the world.
Yet, for example, while the French are renowned for their delight
in all things gustatory, they are significantly trimmer and less
diet-obsessed than Americans.
Fat History explores the meaning of fat and anti-fat in modern
Western society, focusing on the uniquely moral component of
dieting in America. Tracing how standards of beauty and physical
morality have been radically transformed over the past century in
the United States and France, Peter N. Stearns illustrates how the
contemporary obsession with fat arose in tandem with the dramatic
growth in consumer culture, women's increasing equality, andchanges
in women's sexual and maternal roles. Contrary to popular belief,
fashion and nutrition have played only a secondary role in spurring
the American aversion to fat, while the French distaste for obesity
can be traced to different origins altogether.
Filled with narrative anecdotes and rooted in Stearns' trademark
use of engaging original sources--from "Ebony" and "Gourmet" to
"The Journal of the American Medical Association" and popularized
accounts of French doctors--Fat History explores fat's
transformation from a symbol of health and well-being to a sign of
moral, psychological, and physical disorder.
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