Cart
Free US shipping over $10
Proud to be B-Corp

Governing Bodies Rachel Louise Moran

Governing Bodies By Rachel Louise Moran

Governing Bodies by Rachel Louise Moran


$32.13
Condition - Very Good
Only 1 left

Summary

Weaving together histories of the body, public policy, and social welfare, Rachel Louise Moran analyzes a series of discrete episodes over the course of the twentieth century to chronicle the federal government's efforts to shape the physique of its citizenry.

Faster Shipping

Get this product faster from our US warehouse

Governing Bodies Summary

Governing Bodies: American Politics and the Shaping of the Modern Physique by Rachel Louise Moran

Americans are generally apprehensive about what they perceive as big government-especially when it comes to measures that target their bodies. Soda taxes, trans fat bans, and calorie counts on menus have all proven deeply controversial. Such interventions, Rachel Louise Moran argues, are merely the latest in a long, albeit often quiet, history of policy motivated by economic, military, and familial concerns. In Governing Bodies, Moran traces the tension between the intimate terrain of the individual citizen's body and the public ways in which the federal government has sought to shape the American physique over the course of the twentieth century.

Distinguishing her subject from more explicit and aggressive government intrusion into the areas of sexuality and reproduction, Moran offers the concept of the advisory state-the use of government research, publicity, and advocacy aimed at achieving citizen support and voluntary participation to realize social goals. Instituted through outside agencies and glossy pamphlets as well as legislation, the advisory state is government out of sight yet intimately present in the lives of citizens. The activities of such groups as the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Children's Bureau, the President's Council on Physical Fitness, and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) implement federal body projects in subtle ways that serve to mask governmental interference in personal decisions about diet and exercise. From advice-giving to height-weight standards to mandatory nutrition education, these tactics not only empower and conceal the advisory state but also maintain the illusion of public and private boundaries, even as they become blurred in practice.

Weaving together histories of the body, public policy, and social welfare, Moran analyzes a series of discrete episodes to chronicle the federal government's efforts to shape the physique of its citizenry. Governing Bodies sheds light on our present anxieties over the proper boundaries of state power.

Governing Bodies Reviews

Deeply researched and engagingly written, Governing Bodies offers a nuanced and provocative account of the role of the U.S. government in managing the physical fitness of its citizens. Rachel Louise Moran provides a new perspective on American political history and state development.-Marisa Chappell, Oregon State University


Governing Bodies offers an authoritative and compelling account of the century-long effort to ensure that America's citizenry was physically fit. Tracing the story from the evolution of the calorimeter to warnings that Americans were a 'Nation of Weaklings' during the Cold War to WIC in the 1970s, Moran pays careful attention to the intersection of state, society, and political culture that framed this set of public policies. For much of the twentieth century, Americans were enticed, rather than coerced, into shaping up.-Brian Balogh, University of Virginia

About Rachel Louise Moran

Rachel Louise Moran teaches history at the University of North Texas.

Table of Contents

Introduction. Weight of the Nation
Chapter 1. The Advisory State World War I Made: Scientific Nutrition and Scientific Mothering
Chapter 2. Boys into Men: Depression-Era Physique in the Civilian Conservation Corps
Chapter 3. Men into Soldiers: World War II and the Conscripted Body
Chapter 4. Selling Postwar Fitness: Advertising, Education, and the President's Council
Chapter 5. Wasted Bodies: Emaciation and the War on Poverty
Chapter 6. Poor Choices: Weight, Welfare, and WIC in the 1970s
Conclusion. Governing American Bodies

Notes
Index
Acknowledgments

Additional information

CIN0812250192VG
9780812250190
0812250192
Governing Bodies: American Politics and the Shaping of the Modern Physique by Rachel Louise Moran
Used - Very Good
Hardback
University of Pennsylvania Press
20180530
224
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in very good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

Customer Reviews - Governing Bodies