Synopses & Reviews
Were obsessed with weight, we dislike our bodies, we worry about the food we eat, we feel guilty, we diet. Too many of us are locked into a war with our own bodies which well never win, and which will never make us happy.
The Ministry of Thin takes a controversial, unflinching look at how the modern, international obsession with weight loss, youth, beauty, and perfection has spun out of control. Emma Woolf, author of
An Apple a Day, explores how we might all be able to stop hating and start liking our own bodies again. She rallies against the industries of food, health, exercise, beauty, sex, and surgery that seek to create a world that verges on the Orwellian with the victims of this onslaught trapped and dominated by the societal pressures to conform.
And she dares to ask: if losing weight is the answer, what is the question?
Review
"Woolf...writes about women's addiction to dieting and self-deprecation with eye-opening candor."—
More Magazine"Woolf uses her distinctively conversational voice and nimble sense of humor to keep her arresting insights into our obsession with thinness as well as modern-day feminism and fertility from getting too downbeat. Candid, revealing, and invaluable." Booklist
About the Author
Emma Woolf is the great-niece of Virginia Woolf. After studying English at Oxford University she worked in publishing, before becoming a full-time writer. She is a columnist for
The Times and
The Daily Beast and also writes for
The Independent, The Mail on Sunday, Harpers Bazaar, Red, Grazia, and
Psychologies. She was a co-presenter on BBC Channel 4s
Supersize vs Superskinny; other media appearances include
Newsnight, Womans Hour, and
Radio 4s Four Thought. Emmas first book,
An Apple a Day: A Memoir of Love and Recovery from Anorexia was shortlisted for the Best Award for Recovery Inspiration. She was also nominated for Minds Journalist of the Year. She lives in London.