Description
Book SynopsisTracing the link between changing attitudes toward body size and modern conceptions of class, society, and self.
Trade ReviewVigarello offers up a grande bouffe of food for thought, tracing the impact of evolving mores and medicines on society's perception of an often stigmatized condition. Nature Vigarello masterfully traces...the stigmatization of the fat person over time. Times Literary Supplement Overall, a useful resource on the sociology and history of obesity... Choice At once compelling and ground-breaking... this work represents all that is best in new histories of the body. Modern Language Review A brilliant piece of work... A great opening point to the many opaque aspects of the consequences of body size for the fate of individuals and societies for future historians to explore. Social History of Medicine Enjoyable and useful. Vigarello manages to deliver an impresive amount of material in less than two hundred pages... Thought-provoking and entertaining. Bulletin of the History of Medicine The most impressive history of corpulence to date... essential reading for anyone wishing to understand how our modern preoccupations with size, weight, health, beauty, and morality have changed over time. American Historical Review In short, the breadth and detail of the account presented here provides a valuable resource for researchers to begin to understand the multiplicity of approaches to fatness over time. Antipode: A Radical Journal of Geography Exceptionally well organized and presented, The Metamorphoses of Fat is a unique and seminal work of outstanding scholarship that is unreservedly recommended. Midwest Book Review
Table of ContentsIntroduction Part 1 1. The Prestige of the Big Person 2. Liquids, Fat, and Wind 3. The Horizon of Fault 4. The Fifteenth Century and the Contrasts of Slimming Part 2 5. The Shores of Laziness 6. The Plural of Fat 7. Exploring Images, Defining Terms 8. Constraining the Flesh Part 3 9. Inventing Nuance 10. Stigmatizing Powerlessness 11. Toning Up Part 4 12. The Weight of Figures 13. Typology Fever 14. From Chemistry to Energy 15. From Energy to Diets Part 5 16. The Dominance of Aesthetics 17. Clinical Obesity and Everyday Obesity 18. The Thin Revolution 19. Declaring "The Martyr" Part 6 Conclusion Notes Index
