CALORIES AND CORSETS - Couverture souple

Today we are urged from all sides to slim down and shape up, to shed a few pounds or lose life-threatening stones. The media's relentless obsession with size may be perceived as a twenty-first-century phenomenon, but as award-winning historian Louise Foxcroft shows, we have been struggling with what to eat, when and how much, ever since the Greeks and the Romans first pinched an inch. Meticulously researched, surprising and sometimes shocking, Calories and Corsets tells the epic story of our complicated relationship with food, the fashions and fads of body shape, and how cultural beliefs and social norms have changed over time. Combining research from medical journals, letters, articles and the dieting bestsellers we continue to devour (including one by an octogenarian Italian in the sixteenth century), Foxcroft reveals the extreme and often absurd lengths people will go to in order to achieve the perfect body, from eating carbolic soap to chewing every morsel hundreds of times to a tasteless pulp. This unique and witty history exposes the myths and anxieties that drive today's multi-billion pound dieting industry - and offers a welcome perspective on how we can be healthy and happy in our bodies.

"'A compelling history of mankind's peculiar and often perverse relationship with dieting... like a grown-up version of Horrible Histories... her style is pacy and she has a wonderfully light touch' (The Times) 'Immensely readable and very enjoyable, brilliantly researched and filled with fascinating, often hilarious facts' (Arabella Weir) 'This witty history of dieting is full of interesting facts... a great reminder that the basic principles of weight loss never change' (Elle) 'Elegantly written and full of tasty morsels' 34; --(Mail on Sunday)

'Brilliantly researched and highly entertaining.' --Daily Mail