Fasting Girls: The History of Anorexia Nervosa - Softcover

Brumberg, Joan Jacobs

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0452263271 ISBN 13: 9780452263277

Publisher: Plume, 1989

Synopsis

Traces the historic roots of anorexia nervosa from its emergence during the Victorian era to its pervasiveness in the twentieth century and explores the cultural significance of appetite control in women's lives

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

Winner of four major awards, this updated edition of Joan Jacobs Brumberg's Fasting Girls, presents a history of women's food-refusal dating back as far as the sixteenth century. Here is a tableau of female self-denial: medieval martyrs who used starvation to demonstrate religious devotion, "wonders of science" whose families capitalized on their ability to survive on flower petals and air, silent screen stars whose strict "slimming" regimens inspired a generation. Here, too, is a fascinating look at how the cultural ramifications of the Industrial Revolution produced a disorder that continues to render privileged young women helpless. Incisive, compassionate, illuminating, Fasting Girls offers real understanding to victims and their families, clinicians, and all women who are interested in the origins and future of this complex, modern and characteristically female disease.

About the Author:

Joan Jacobs Brumberg is a Stephen H. Weiss Professor at Cornell University, in Ithaca, New York.

About this edition

• Publisher: Plume
• Publication date: 1989
• ISBN 10: 0452263271
• ISBN 13: 9780452263277
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 384