The Changing Body: Health, Nutrition, and Human Development in the Western World since 1700 (New Approaches to Economic and Social History)
Cambridge University Press
Edition: Illustrated, 3/31/2011
EAN 9780521879750, ISBN10: 0521879752
Hardcover, 458 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 2.5 cm
Language: English
Humans have become much taller and heavier, and experience healthier and longer lives than ever before in human history. However it is only recently that historians, economists, human biologists and demographers have linked the changing size, shape and capability of the human body to economic and demographic change. This fascinating and groundbreaking book presents an accessible introduction to the field of anthropometric history, surveying the causes and consequences of changes in health and mortality, diet and the disease environment in Europe and the United States since 1700. It examines how we define and measure health and nutrition as well as key issues such as whether increased longevity contributes to greater productivity or, instead, imposes burdens on society through the higher costs of healthcare and pensions. The result is a major contribution to economic and social history with important implications for today's developing world and the health trends of the future.
1. Our changing bodies
300 years of technophysio evolution
2. Investigating the interaction of biological, demographic, and economic variables from fragmentary data
3. The analysis of long-term trends in nutritional status, mortality, and economic growth
4. Technophysio evolution and human health in England and Wales since 1700
5. Height, health, and mortality in continental Europe, 1700–2100
6. The American experience of technophysio evolution
7. Conclusion.
'The scope of this book is breathtaking in its description of the remarkable changes in human constitutions in the Western World over the last 300 years at a pace never seen before in history. Written from a multidisciplinary perspective, it will inform and excite persons in the health and social sciences and give them a new and valuable perspective on modern human development.' Nevin S. Scrimshaw, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and World Food Prize Laureate