Laura Dawes is a historian of medicine living in Cheshire, England.
Through anecdotes and an overview of social trends, [Dawes]
provides the historical context for our fixation [on childhood
obesity], revealing shifting cultural perceptions, medical
pre-occupations, scientific advances and economic forces linked to
the phenomenon. By clarifying where we have been, Dawes aims to
guide us forward... Perhaps health professionals' efforts to
contain, control, prevent and reverse childhood obesity have been
constrained by a failure to see and consider the full scope of the
threat and the best defenses-that is, by the focus on one idea at a
time. Dawes replaces such parochial perspectives with a window 100
years wide. May it help show us the way. -- David Katz * Nature
*
The goal of this book is not to offer answers, but to explain how
we as a society ended up where we are. There were critical moments
in the history of childhood obesity where leaders, whether medical,
educational, political or otherwise, could have taken one path or
another. Dawes traces the history that led to each crossroad
and the implications of the path that our leaders have chosen at
each of these crossroads. Given the epidemic levels of obesity in
the U.S., the topic has become popular in the media, leading to
enormous numbers of articles, books, TV reports, and so on. Many of
these accounts come from individuals with a vested interest in
swaying readers' beliefs about the causes of the issue and how to
best resolve it. This book offers something different. It places
many of the issues that we face as a country into a historical
context to help readers understand the current state of childhood
obesity. Dawes has done her job very well. The ball is now in our
court. -- Lisa Auster-Gussman * Books & Culture *
Dawes, a historian of medicine, dutifully catalogues
society's stumbling attempts to understand and deal with this
subject over the past century. She reviews many failed attempts to
keep childhood obesity in check, from the 'endocrine vogue of the
1920s to the 1940s' to diet drugs, bariatric surgery, and the
leptin gene craze. Advertising geared toward making bad foods
attractive to kids has been rampant and governments have done a
poor job controlling it...Dawes ably demonstrates that any
solutions will likely be as multifaceted as the problem. *
Publishers Weekly *
With vivid prose, memorable examples, and an impressive depth of
research, Laura Dawes demonstrates how and why our current
preoccupation with childhood obesity emerged. This book is a
genuine contribution not only to historical understanding, but to
the field of medical ethics and to contemporary policy debates. --
Steven Mintz, University of Texas at Austin
Childhood Obesity in America is timely and compelling. This
thoughtful book reveals a great deal about the place of the child
in American history, the intensity of the search for the normal
body, and the overwhelming importance of aesthetic criteria in
understanding the best size of the child. -- Susan Lederer,
University of Wisconsin-Madison
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