Right to know

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Jonathan Simon

"This book explores the history of pharmacy in France and its relationship to the discipline of chemistry as it emerged at the beginning of the nineteenth century. It argues that an appreciation of the history of pharmacy is essential to a full understanding of the constitution of modern science, in particular the discipline of chemistry. As such, it provides a novel interpretation of the chemical revolution (c.1770-1789) that will, no doubt, generate much debate on the place of the chemical arts in this story, a question that has hitherto lacked sufficient scholarly reflection. Furthermore, the book situates this analysis within the broader context of the French Revolution, arguing that an intimate and direct link can be drawn between the political upheavals and our vision of the chemical revolution."--Jacket.

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David Barnes

"Historian David S. Barnes examines the birth of a new microbe-centered science of public health during the 1880s and 1890s, when the germ theory of disease burst into public consciousness. Tracing a series of developments in French science, medicine, politics, and culture, Barnes reveals how the science and practice of public health changed during the heyday of the bacteriological revolution." "This study sheds light on the scientific and social factors that continue to influence the public's lingering uncertainty over how disease can - and cannot - be spread."--Jacket.

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Daniel Kunitz

Why the Pain? What's the Gain? takes you on a guided tour of humankind's 3000-year wayward search for the perfect workout; from the dirt courtyards of the ancient Greek gymnasium to the birth of the modern gym in 19th-century Paris; to the weekend, beachside Olympic-caliber gymnasts of Santa Monica and Sydney. Daniel Kunitz seeks the answer to a simple yet profound question: Why do we work out? We will listen in on the innovators and charlatans who lifted the multibillion-dollar business of gym-fitness into being. We will learn how the women's movement sparked an enormous exercise boom and tell the story not only of how we arrived at the big-box gym era but also of the last decade's acceleration into a new fitness frontier. Daniel Kunitz puts himself through the grit and pain of the cross fit, parkour and tough mudder regimes, searching not just for new-found physique, but on a quest to understand the pain and more precisely the gain of working out.

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Brett Silverstein and Deborah Perlick

In The Cost of Competence, authors Brett Silverstein and Deborah Perlick argue that rather than simply labeling individual women as, say, anorexic or depressed, it is time to look harder at the widespread prejudices within our society and child-rearing practices that lead thousands of young women to equate thinness with competence and success, and femininity with failure. They argue that continuing to treat depression, anxiety, anorexia and bulimia as separate disorders in young women can, in many cases, be a misguided approach since they are really part of a single syndrome. Furthermore, their fascinating research into the lives of forty prominent women from Elizabeth I to Eleanor Roosevelt show that these symptoms have been disrupting the lives of bright, ambitious women not for decades, but for centuries. . Drawing on all the latest findings, rare historical research, cross-cultural comparisons, and their own study of over 2,000 contemporary women attending high schools and colleges, the authors present powerful new evidence to support the existence of a syndrome they call anxious somatic depression. The authors show that identifying this devastating syndrome is a first step toward its prevention and cure. The Cost of Competence presents an urgent message to parents, educators, policymakers, and the medical community on the crucial importance of providing young women with equal opportunity, and equal respect.