Fit Nation

The Gains and Pains of America's Exercise Obsession

Fit Nation
Natalia Mehlman Petrzela
RRP:
NZ$ 54.99
Our Price:
NZ$ 43.99
Hardback
h229 x 152mm - 424pg
7 Dec 2022 US
International import eta 10-30 days
9780226651101
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How is it that Americans are more obsessed with exercise than ever, and yet also unhealthier? Fit Nation explains how we got here and imagines how we might create a more inclusive, stronger future. If a shared American creed still exists, it' s a belief that exercise is integral to a life well lived. A century ago, working out was a strange subculture, but today, it' s almost impossible to avoid exhortations to exercise: Walk 5K to cure cancer! Ignite your inner sex kitten at pole-dancing class! Sweat like (or even with) a celebrity in spin class! Exercise is everywhere. Yet the United States is hardly a "fit nation. " Only twenty percent of Americans work out consistently, over half of gym members don' t even use the facilities, and fewer than three out of ten high school students get an hour of exercise a day. So how did fitness become both inescapable and inaccessible? Spanning over a century of American history, Fit Nation answers these questions and more through original interviews, archival research, and a rich cultural narrative. As a leading political and intellectual historian and a certified fitness instructor, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela is uniquely qualified to confront the complex and far-reaching implications of how our contemporary exercise culture took shape. She explores the work of working out not just as consumers experienced it, but as it was created by performers, physical educators, trainers, instructors, and many others. For Petrzela, fitness is a social justice issue. She argues that the fight for a more equitable exercise culture will be won only by revolutionizing fitness culture at its core, making it truly inclusive for all bodies in a way it has never been. Ranging from the stage of the World' s Fair to Muscle Beach to fat farms to feminist health clinics to radical and evangelical college campuses to yoga retreats to gleaming health clubs to countless school gymnasiums, and much more, Fit Nation is a revealing history of fitness that shows it to be not just a matter of physical health but of what it means to be an American.
"Petrzela has brought us an intellectually rich and delightfully informative history of how people in the United States have understood, obsessed over, and changed their bodies. In a thorough look at the trends, characters, and ideologies that have informed the body politic and the politics of bodies, Petrzela helps us recognize the weight of constant messaging from industries trying to convince the public to seek perfection endlessly. An important and enjoyable read. " * Marcia Chatelain, author of Pulitzer Prize-winning ' Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America' * "America' s current obsession with fitness, exercise, and wellness has a deep and fascinating history, one that Petrzela has been at the forefront of illuminating as a historian, writer, educator, activist-and instructor. In Fit Nation, Petrzela brings to bear her tremendous narrative gifts through a rich cast of characters and entrepreneurs while deepening our understanding of the complex social, cultural, political, and economic forces that have helped to shape our bodies figuratively and literally. Whatever your relationship to exercise, this entertaining and transformative book is a must-read. " * Marisa Meltzer, author of ' This Is Big: How the Founder of Weight Watchers Changed the World (and Me)' * "Fit Nation is a comprehensive, analytically rich history that offers an expert guided tour of fitness entrepreneurs and practices. Petrzela uses the lens of fitness to offer a fascinating history of transformations in conceptions of masculinity and femininity, consumption practices, and entrepreneurialism. The result is a political history of ideas-about the body, community, and the proper relations between the state and the individual-that is not only fascinating but strikingly relevant. " * Lawrence B. Glickman, Cornell University * "This is the book I' ve been waiting for my whole career! As someone who has straddled the fitness industry and public health academia for decades, I truly cannot underscore strongly enough the importance of what Petrzela has so perfectly and poignantly presented here. Both long overdue and impeccably timed, Fit Nation is a necessary key to the future of fitness. " * Shauna Harrison, yogi, trainer, and academic *
Natalia Mehlman Petrzela is a historian of contemporary American politics and culture and associate professor of history at the New School. A certified fitness instructor, she has worked out at home and in gyms for nearly three decades. She is the author of Classroom Wars: Language, Sex, and the Making of Modern Political Culture, and her work has appeared in outlets such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Atlantic, and CNN. She is coproducer and host of the acclaimed podcast Welcome to Your Fantasy and cohost of the Past Present podcast. She lives in New York City.

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