Bodies and beauty in the modern west

“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

“Provides an innovative explanation of the modern preoccupation with dieting that fundamentally revises our understanding of the timing, intensity, and significance of the modern American culture of weight loss.”
Journal of American History

Fat History explores fat’s transformation from a symbol of health and well-being to a sign of moral, psychological, and physical disorder.

Peter N. Stearns is Heinz Professor of History and Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University. The founding editor og The Journal of Social History, he is the author of numerous books, including American Cool.