Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World

Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World

Greg Critser
$18.99
Publication Date: January 5th, 2004
Publisher:
Harvest
ISBN:
9780618380602
Pages:
256
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Description

In this astonishing expose, journalist Greg Critser looks beyond the sensational headlines to reveal why nearly 60 percent of Americans are now overweight. Critser's sharp-eyed reportage and sharp-tongued analysis make for a disarmingly funny and truly alarming book. Critser investigates the many factors of American life -- from supersize to Super Mario, from high-fructose corn syrup to the high cost of physical education in schools -- that have converged and conspired to make us some of the fattest people on the planet. He also explains why pediatricians are treating conditions rarely before noticed in children, why Type 2 diabetes is on the rise, and how agribusiness has unwittingly altered the American diet.

About the Author

GREG CRITSER is a longtime chronicler of the modern pharmaceutical industry and the politics of medicine. His columns and essays on the subject have appeared in Harper’s Magazine, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, the L.A. Times, and elsewhere. Critser is the author of Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World (Houghton Mifflin), which the American Diabetes Association called “the definitive journalistic account of the modern obesity epidemic.” He lives in Pasadena, California, with his wife, Antoinette Mongelli.

Praise for Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World

"Highly readable." -The New York Times Book Review The New York Times Book Review

"An in-depth, well-researched, and thoughtful exploration of the 'fat boom' in America." -- Boston Globe Boston Globe

Greg Critser shows how obesity has become the United States' leading social issue." -San Francisco Chronicle The San Francisco Chronicle

"Reading this book will take ten pounds right off you." -- Vanity Fair Vanity Fair

"[An] absorbing volume, of living large." -- Michiko Kakutani, New York Times The New York Times

"A fluidly written, riveting tale . . .[an] impassioned, graphic account." -- Heller McAlpin, Newsday Newsday

"Interesting and provocative . . . A lively book . . . Critser is rightly incensed." -- Laura Miller, Salon.com

Salon

“Just perusing the book, and seeing the [obesity] problem presented in such an articulate and lucid manner, can’t help but make more informed food consumers out of readers.” -- Los Angeles Times The Los Angeles Times

“One scary book and a good companion to Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation. Consider it Critser’s cry of ‘Watch it, Fatso!’ to our bloated nation.” -- Seattle Post-Intelligencer Seattle Post-Intelligencer

“Urgent and easily digested . . ..Critser lays out the smorgasbord of cultural and economic ingredients that combine to make fatness as American as a deep-fried apple fritter.” -- San Diego Union-Tribune The San Diego Union-Tribune

“Incisive . . .The book makes you slightly ill at the notion of an overfed wasteland.” -- Philadelphia Inquirer Philadelphia Inquirer —