Synopses & Reviews
Between 1800 and 2000 life expectancy at birth rose from about 30 years to a global average of 67 years, and to more than 75 years in favored countries. This dramatic change was called a health transition, characterized by a transition both in how long people expected to live, and how they expected to die. Rising Life Expectancy examines the way humans reduced risks to their survival, both regionally and globally, to promote world population growth and population aging.
Review
"Between 1800 and 2000, the average life expectancy at birth more than doubled, from 30 to 67 years. James Riley considers this the most important development of the modern era, allowing countless millions to experience the pleasures and poignancies of life that would otherwise have been denied to them. But how did it happen? Were economic improvements primarily responsible? What role did science play? How important were upgrades in public health provision, emanating from the broadening of the boundaries of the state? Or should we place more emphasis on the spread of literacy and an increasing understanding of the prerequisites of healthfulness? Clearly, when put in this way, it is clear that the rise in the expectation of life was a complex development, influenced by an array of different (and sometimes contradictory) factors. Mr. Riley, in a compact and clear fashion, outlines the major sources of change with exemplary balance and appropriate authority. The lesson that he derives from history is that there is no single strategy for success; what worked in one society often proved unhelpful in another. This, of course, is in large part because the causes of premature death differed from place to place. The lesson he derives from the present is that there is still much to be done to reduce inequalities in life span across peoples and regions. The caution for the future is that there may not be enough resources to achieve that end, given the demands imposed by those who have already benefited and who will become an ever greater presence in the 21st century—the aged (and increasingly very aged) in the rich societies of the West." Reviewed by Andrew Witmer, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)
Review
"An informative, lucid, thoroughly annoataed, intelligent analysis." CHOICE Jan 2002"Mr. Riley, in a compact and clear fashion, outlines the major sources of change with exemplary balance and appropriate authority." Virginia Quarterly Review
Review
"This book is a fine example of quality interdisciplinary research designed for a general audience, drawing on work from several fields to inform its conclusions...a well-researched, accessible, and well-written introduction to the health transition." Journal of Interdisciplinary History
Review
"Rising Life Expectancy is an excellent source book for the latest research on the global health transition." Journal of World History, George Dehner, Northeastern University
Table of Contents
1. A brief overview of the health transition; 2. Public health; 3. Medicine; 4. Wealth, income, and economic development; 5. Famine, malnutrition, and diet; 6. Households and individual behavior; 7. Literacy and education.