Today we are urged from all sides to slim down and shape up. The media's relentless obsession with size may be perceived as a twenty-first-century phenomenon, but as award-winning historian Louise Foxcroft shows, we have been struggling with what to eat, when and how much, ever since the Greeks and the Romans first pinched an inch. Meticulously researched, surprising and sometimes shocking, Calories and Corsets tells the epic story of our complicated relationship with food, the fashions and fads of body shape, and how cultural beliefs and social norms have changed over time. This unique and witty history exposes the myths and anxieties that drive today's multi-billion dollar dieting industry - and offers a welcome perspective on how we can be healthy and happy in our bodies.
Author Biography
Louise Foxcroft has a PhD in the history of medicine from the University of Cambridge. Her most recent book, Hot Flushes, Cold Science was the winner of the Longman-History Today Prize, 2009. She also writes for the Guardian and the London Review of Books.
