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14th out of 158 books
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Fasting Girls: The History of Anorexia Nervosa
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 flow...more
Paperback, 400 pages
Published
October 10th 2000
by Vintage
(first published 1988)
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I read this for Krishnendu Ray's Contemporary Issues in Food Studies, September 2010. A remarkably easy read considering the depressing subject matter, but thankfully it ends on a hopeful note. Choice quotations (based on where I left bookmarks during my reading, which I am now clearing out in order to return the book to the library):
Skeptical neurologist George Beard on the case of Mollie Fancher, "The Brooklyn Enigma," who became famous for eating almost nothing during ...more
Skeptical neurologist George Beard on the case of Mollie Fancher, "The Brooklyn Enigma," who became famous for eating almost nothing during ...more
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Jessica Silk
rated it
Recommends it for:
body image/eating disorders/diet industry/sociology of medicine
I was at first hesitant to read this book because it's a little old (it was originally published in the 80s) and because it's the "history of anorexia" and not a history of eating disorders *in general* (which probably has a lot to due with it being written in the 80s, HOWEVER, I thought it was a really interesting read and Brumberg's general arguments still carry weight (no pun intended) in the present cultural milieu.
I have to admit that I'm not the biggest history buff ...more
I have to admit that I'm not the biggest history buff ...more
I picked up this book to do some research for a horror story and found it absorbing. I particularly liked the author's argument that Victorian-era anorexia "honored the emotional guidelines governing the middle-class Victorian family."
I also learned a cool word from this book: "Parentectomy" - the medical move of removing the patient from her parents... a strategy more effective than sentimental, deluded American adults would like to believe...
All in a...more
I also learned a cool word from this book: "Parentectomy" - the medical move of removing the patient from her parents... a strategy more effective than sentimental, deluded American adults would like to believe...
All in a...more
I bought this book because I have a student dealing with anorexia. I've always known girls who had disordered eating habits, so I had a working knowledge of the condition, but I had never known someone who was hospitalized for it. I read this wanting to know more about it.
It's a history book, which made it refreshing to read. Brumberg is a historian, so while her tone seems a bit clinical at times, she definitely stays away from the common tendency to get dramatic over the subject...more
It's a history book, which made it refreshing to read. Brumberg is a historian, so while her tone seems a bit clinical at times, she definitely stays away from the common tendency to get dramatic over the subject...more
Fascinating.
To be perfectly honest, I checked this out of the library three times without reading it - I'd get a few chapters in and then wander off to some other book. I'm glad I finally read it, though.
Brumberg is a historian, not a psychologist or patient, which gives this book a unique tone in comparison to many (perhaps most) books about eating disorders. It's a bit outdated - the copy I eventually read is from the 80s, though I think the library copies were updated in 2...more
To be perfectly honest, I checked this out of the library three times without reading it - I'd get a few chapters in and then wander off to some other book. I'm glad I finally read it, though.
Brumberg is a historian, not a psychologist or patient, which gives this book a unique tone in comparison to many (perhaps most) books about eating disorders. It's a bit outdated - the copy I eventually read is from the 80s, though I think the library copies were updated in 2...more
This book was a very interesting look at Anorexia Nervosa, and one of the only that I have read that seems to have no hidden agendas on the subject. It was the most un-biased look at the condition that I have seen so far.
A history of the disease, or more specifically, a history of how the condition came to be seen as a disease. It starts with accounts of saints who lived on little or no food, and then moves to 19th century cases of "fasting girls" who claimed to be able to live without eating. Anorexia emerged as a psychological disorder in the 19th century when doctors theorized that middle class daughters used it as a way to distinguish themselves in their prosperous families. It wasn't until the 192...more
This is a fascinating look at anorexia nervosa. I read this as part of my research into female ascetics and mystics during the Middle Ages, but found the book far more useful than I'd anticipated.
Great to hear a historical perspective on how eating disorders came about. Insightful, but there is still alot to learn about the disorders
Great to hear a historical perspective on how eating disorders came about. Insightful, but there is still alot to learn about the disorders
I requested this by mistake, but I read it anyways. It was really informative and interesting.
Longish discussion of this book and a related article: http://bradamant.livejournal.com/49004.h...
Hlry
added it
i got bored...it's my problem not the author's. she's an interesting writer, for a sholar.
I had to buy this book for a class and never read it. for some reason, when all other books make me cringe at the moment, this one is palatable. no pun intended.
I had to buy this book for a class and never read it. for some reason, when all other books make me cringe at the moment, this one is palatable. no pun intended.
This book is incredible. Well-researched, well-written, informative in a refreshing way. Traces the roots of anorexia nervosa not through the media, but beginning with religion.
I learned some history; the "current issues" section is a bit outdated, but you have to expect that from a book whose original publication date was in the 80s.
a slow start at first, but it turned out to be pretty interesting. dispels myths about anorexia. a must-read if you're into that sort of schtuff.
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very interesting--shows how far back anorexia nervosa really goes and how it has been reacted to in differest cultures and different ages
Traces the evolution of anorexia from the late 19th/early 20th century to contemporary times.
It was intersting.
Helena
marked it as to-read
Heather
marked it as to-read
Melissa
marked it as to-read
Emily
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Betsy Willing
marked it as to-read
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Joan Jacobs Brumberg is a Professor Emerita of Cornell University, where she has been teaching history, human development and gender studies since 1979. Brumberg lectures and writes about the experiences of adolescents throughout history until the present day.
In the subject area of Gender Studies, she has written both about boys and violence, and girls and body image.
More about Joan Jacobs Brumberg...
In the subject area of Gender Studies, she has written both about boys and violence, and girls and body image.
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