This book examines the rise of the obesity epidemic through the
perspectives of art, literature, and medicine, particularly in Britain, with
brief mention of continental Europe and North America. In the first chapter,
the authors set the scene by explaining the medical significance of obesity:
namely, how and why obesity leads to illness. The remainder of the book is
devoted to discussing historical perceptions of obesity, the history of eating,
the history of exercise, and the history of weight loss remedies. Historical
perceptions of obesity are addressed from several angles, including the
business of “fat folk” circus freaks; the portrayal of obese figures in art,
from Paleolithic stone sculpture to seaside post cards to modern film; and the
depiction of obese figures in writing, from Chaucer to J. K. Rowling.
Throughout the book, the authors are careful to emphasize that obesity is not
simply a self-inflicted product of gluttony and sloth, but a condition brought
about by many factors, including genetics and social influences. They conclude
the book by urging society to take a more aggressive stance against obesity by
reminding readers that obesity kills.
David Haslam is a general practitioner in the United Kingdom, He is also Clinical
Director of Britain’s National Obesity Forum, a charity formed in 2000 to
increase awareness of obesity as a medical condition. Fiona Haslam is a
historian of medicine and art, with a doctorate from the University of St.
Andrews. She is also the author of From Hogarth to Rowlandson: Medicine
in Art in Eighteenth Century Britain (Liverpool University Press,
1996).
