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Fit for America: Health, Fitness, Sport and American Society
Provides a history of American attitudes towards fitness prior to World War II, looks at gymnastics, calisthenics, and pseudo-medical treatments, and examines changes in diet and dress
- GenresHistory
Paperback
First published March 12, 1986
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 11, 2015
"The quest for health in America has been both pursuit and flight."
I enjoyed this history in which Green not only chronicles the diet, health, and fitness trends of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, but also effectively reveals the varied cultural events, moments, and themes that have inspired continued interest in health and a fit body. He divides the period 1830 to 1940 into three sections:
1830-1860: Green argues that before the Civil War, religious enthusiasm and nationalistic concerns fueled the reform of individuals and society.
1860-1890: In the post Civil War years, decreasing agricultural living coupled with increasing urbanity and modernity occurred at the same time as technological advancements, which promoted health and put it front of mind.
1890-1940: The widespread cultural pessimism of the middle class fueled the fires of reinvention through health, from the "strenuous life" to the first health food cereals.
Green covers a period of more than one hundred years adeptly and in great detail, though I wish larger themes were addressed more consistently and that there was a stronger argument throughout the entire narrative thread.
I enjoyed this history in which Green not only chronicles the diet, health, and fitness trends of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, but also effectively reveals the varied cultural events, moments, and themes that have inspired continued interest in health and a fit body. He divides the period 1830 to 1940 into three sections:
1830-1860: Green argues that before the Civil War, religious enthusiasm and nationalistic concerns fueled the reform of individuals and society.
1860-1890: In the post Civil War years, decreasing agricultural living coupled with increasing urbanity and modernity occurred at the same time as technological advancements, which promoted health and put it front of mind.
1890-1940: The widespread cultural pessimism of the middle class fueled the fires of reinvention through health, from the "strenuous life" to the first health food cereals.
Green covers a period of more than one hundred years adeptly and in great detail, though I wish larger themes were addressed more consistently and that there was a stronger argument throughout the entire narrative thread.
July 1, 2013
This book deserved (and good) a mainstream publisher release. Eminently readable and thoroughly fascinating, this will be the definitive text on health/fitness during this period until someone comes along and writes something better. The illustrations are awesome and incorporated in the text, a huge plus. Some of you may recognize Harvey Green and his huge 'fro from his appearance on Biography: The Kellogg Brothers, and if so, you don't have lives.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews