The Changing Body
The Changing Body
Robert W. Fogel, University of Chicago
Bernard Harris, University of Southampton
Sok Chul Hong, Sogang University, Seoul
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.
- Groundbreaking overview of three hundred years of human development which brings together approaches from economics and anthropometric history
- Puts long-term changes in height, weight, morbidity and mortality in an international context, and projects these changes forward to anticipate future trends
- Eminent team of authors includes Sir Roderick Floud, and Nobel Prize winner Robert William Fogel
Reviews & endorsements
"The scope of this book is breath taking 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
"Rich, complex but surprisingly readable, The Changing Body is a paradigm-shifting contribution. A sub-discipline that began modestly by identifying height as a secondary indicator of wellbeing now provides a way to conceptualize economic, indeed human, progress." -Jane Humphries, Oxford University
"Roderick Floud and Robert Fogel pioneered the study of the links between nutrition, health, and individual productivity in the past. In this book they, and their two colleagues Bernard Harris and Sok Chul Hong, conduct a masterful survey of what has been achieved in this field in the past quarter century, providing persuasive and thought-provoking evidence whose importance has been greatly underrated." -Tony Wrigley, University of Cambridge
"The authors of The Changing Body demonstrate the value of anthropometric data and information on health and mortality to the understanding of long-term changes in the economic development of the U.S., England, France, and elsewhere in continental Europe. They provide important new insights into the causes and consequences of economic change in the modern world." -Stanley L. Engerman, John H. Munro Professor of Economics and Professor of History, University of Rochester
"The book, which sums up the work of dozens of researchers on one of the most ambitious projects undertaken in economic history, is sure to renew debates over Mr. Fogel's groundbreaking theories about what some regard as the most significant development in humanity's long history." -Patricia Cohen, New York Times
"[The book] offers an authoritative summary of the field of technophysio evolution." -Science
"The hallmark of the book, however, is its relentless focus on detail (where the devil is) and the gradual building up of the case for the big-think claims." -EH.Net
"Essential." -Choice
"The hallmark of this book...is its relentless focus on detail (where the devil is) and the gradual building up of the case for the big-think claims." -Tomas Cvrcek, EH.Net
Product details
April 2011Paperback
9780521705615
456 pages
228 × 152 × 22 mm
0.73kg
86 b/w illus. 74 tables
Available
Table of Contents
- 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.
