Synopses & Reviews
Review
andquot;Boeroandrsquo;s analysis provides an insightful perspective on the framing of the obesity epidemic. Her book is an engaging and fascinating read, as well as a vital contribution to medical sociology.andquot;
Review
andquot;Boero weighs in powerfully for healthy sanity in the 'war against obesity.' Killer Fat clarifies complex science, punitive clinical care, and the relentless screech of the media with aplomb. Brava!andquot;
Review
andquot;This book is both an enjoyable read and incredibly informative. Written in a style that is both authoritative and accessible, Natalie Boero'sand#160;Killer Fatand#160;is a must-read for anyone seeking to understand the so-called 'Obesity Epidemic.'andquot;
Review
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Killer Fat is a significant contribution to the project of skepticism about the so-called 'obesity' epidemic and a compassionate exploration of the burdens it imposes on individuals' lives.andquot;
Synopsis
Killer Fatexamines how and why obesity emerged as a major public health concern and national obsession in recent years. Using primary sources and in-depth interviews, Boero enters the world of bariatric surgeries, Weight Watchers, and Overeaters Anonymous to show how common expectations of what bodies are supposed to look like help to determine what sorts of interventions and policies are considered urgent in containing this new kinds of disease.
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Synopsis
In the past decade, obesity has emerged as a major public health concern in the United States and abroad. At the federal, state, and local level, policy makers have begun drafting a range of policies to fight a war against fat, including body-mass index (BMI) report cards, "snack taxes," and laws to control how fast food companies market to children. As an epidemic, obesity threatens to weaken the health, economy, and might of the most powerful nation in the world.
In Killer Fat, Natalie Boero examines how and why obesity emerged as a major public health concern and national obsession in recent years. Using primary sources and in-depth interviews, Boero enters the world of bariatric surgeries, Weight Watchers, and Overeaters Anonymous to show how common expectations of what bodies are supposed to look like help to determine what sorts of interventions and policies are considered urgent in containing this new kind of disease.
Boero argues that obesity, like the traditional epidemics of biological contagion and mass death, now incites panic, a doomsday scenario that must be confronted in a struggle for social stability. The "war" on obesity, she concludes, is a form of social control.
Killer Fat ultimately offers an alternate framing of the nation's obesity problem based on the insights of the "Health at Every Size" movement.
About the Author
NATALIE BOERO is an associate professor of sociology at San Jose State University. She is the author of andldquo;Bypassing Blame: Bariatric Surgery and the Case of Biomedical Failureandrdquo; in Biomedicalization: Technoscience, Health, and Illness in U.S. Biomedicine and andldquo;Fat Kids, Working Moms, and the andlsquo;Epidemic of Obesityandrsquo;: Race, Class, and Mother-Blame,andrdquo; in The Fat Studies Reader.