Reviews
"Shelly McKenzie's Getting Physical: The Rise of Fitness Culture in America analyzes one of the most understudied aspects of American culture: the impact on the American body of the move to suburbia beginning after WWII. The fitness culture that we assume to be an integral part of what it means to be American in the 21st century turns out to be a response to the mass flight from the urban environment to the car culture of the suburbs. Fitness may be a contemporary commonplace but it is one with a complex and intriguing history. Clearly written and engaging, McKenzie's account should be required reading for all the public health specialists wondering about the origins of our obesity epidemic."- Sander L. Gilman , author of Obesity: The Biography "An interesting and ambitious book--based on diverse evidence and clear analysis--that effectively explains the origins of and reasons for many aspects of Americans' continuing focus on physical fitness."- Peter Stearns , author of Fat History: Bodies and Beauty in the Modern West "McKenzie identifies and delineates a number of touchstone moments at which the relations among health, exercise, and cultural ideology changed in palpable ways. The result is an intriguing, well-written and compelling history that rings true, but also offers a number of new surprises. And it is a genuine pleasure to read!"- Philip Deloria , author of Indians in Unexpected Places, "McKenzie highlights two important moments in fitness and exercise, governmental support for children's fitness and the rise of jogging culture."-- Journal of American Culture, "[A] well-crafted study of fitness culture in America from the 1950s through the 1980s."-- American Historical Review, "In McKenzie's account, it was the lifestyle of suburban consumerism that both encouraged fitness and produced the medical need for it. . . . [Goes] a long way toward helping us make sense of what it means to be "fit" in America while complicating the place of physical fitness within our culture of body surveillance and rigid beauty standards."-- American Studies "A compelling, cohesive, and easy to follow account of the evolution of fitness culture in the United States."-- Journal of Interdisciplinary History "Early twenty-first century conceptions of physical fitness are often assumed to be scientific truths . . . Shelly McKenzie's Getting Physical reveals that these truths have a specific cultural history encompassing a range of understandings and experiences of the fit body from the 1950s to the present."--Journal of American History "McKenzie highlights two important moments in fitness and exercise, governmental support for children's fitness and the rise of jogging culture."-- Journal of American Culture "[A] well-crafted study of fitness culture in America from the 1950s through the 1980s."-- American Historical Review, "In McKenzies account, it was the lifestyle of suburban consumerism that both encouraged fitness and produced the medical need for it. . . . [Goes] a long way toward helping us make sense of what it means to be fitin America while complicating the place of physical fitness within our culture of body surveillance and rigid beauty standards."American Studies "A compelling, cohesive, and easy to follow account of the evolution of fitness culture in the United States."Journal of Interdisciplinary History "Early twenty-first century conceptions of physical fitness are often assumed to be scientific truths . . . Shelly McKenzies Getting Physical reveals that these truths have a specific cultural history encompassing a range of understandings and experiences of the fit body from the 1950s to the present."Journal of American History "McKenzie highlights two important moments in fitness and exercise, governmental support for childrens fitness and the rise of jogging culture."Journal of American Culture "[A] well-crafted study of fitness culture in America from the 1950s through the 1980s."American Historical Review, "In McKenzie's account, it was the lifestyle of suburban consumerism that both encouraged fitness and produced the medical need for it. . . . [Goes] a long way toward helping us make sense of what it means to be "fit" in America while complicating the place of physical fitness within our culture of body surveillance and rigid beauty standards."-- American Studies, "Shelly McKenzie's Getting Physical: The Rise of Fitness Culture in America analyzes one of the most understudied aspects of American culture: the impact on the American body of the move to suburbia beginning after WWII. The fitness culture that we assume to be an integral part of what it means to be American in the 21st century turns out to be a response to the mass flight from the urban environment to the car culture of the suburbs. Fitness may be a contemporary commonplace but it is one with a complex and intriguing history. Clearly written and engaging, McKenzie's account should be required reading for all the public health specialists wondering about the origins of our obesity epidemic."-- Sander L. Gilman , author of Obesity: The Biography "An interesting and ambitious book--based on diverse evidence and clear analysis--that effectively explains the origins of and reasons for many aspects of Americans' continuing focus on physical fitness."-- Peter Stearns , author of Fat History: Bodies and Beauty in the Modern West "McKenzie identifies and delineates a number of touchstone moments at which the relations among health, exercise, and cultural ideology changed in palpable ways. The result is an intriguing, well-written and compelling history that rings true, but also offers a number of new surprises. And it is a genuine pleasure to read!"-- Philip Deloria , author of Indians in Unexpected Places, "Shelly McKenzie's Getting Physical: The Rise of Fitness Culture in America analyzes one of the most understudied aspects of American culture: the impact on the American body of the move to suburbia beginning after WWII. The fitness culture that we assume to be an integral part of what it means to be American in the 21st century turns out to be a response to the mass flight from the urban environment to the car culture of the suburbs. Fitness may be a contemporary commonplace but it is one with a complex and intriguing history. Clearly written and engaging, McKenzie's account should be required reading for all the public health specialists wondering about the origins of our obesity epidemic."-- Sander L. Gilman , author of Obesity: The Biography, "An interesting and ambitious book--based on diverse evidence and clear analysis--that effectively explains the origins of and reasons for many aspects of Americans' continuing focus on physical fitness."-- Peter Stearns , author of Fat History: Bodies and Beauty in the Modern West, "McKenzie identifies and delineates a number of touchstone moments at which the relations among health, exercise, and cultural ideology changed in palpable ways. The result is an intriguing, well-written and compelling history that rings true, but also offers a number of new surprises. And it is a genuine pleasure to read!"-- Philip Deloria , author of Indians in Unexpected Places, Shelly McKenzies Getting Physical: The Rise of Fitness Culture in America analyzes one of the most understudied aspects of American culture: the impact on the American body of the move to suburbia beginning after WWII. The fitness culture that we assume to be an integral part of what it means to be American in the 21st century turns out to be a response to the mass flight from the urban environment to the car culture of the suburbs. Fitness may be a contemporary commonplace but it is one with a complex and intriguing history. Clearly written and engaging, McKenzies account should be required reading for all the public health specialists wondering about the origins of our obesity epidemic.Sander L. Gilman , author of Obesity: The Biography An interesting and ambitious bookbased on diverse evidence and clear analysisthat effectively explains the origins of and reasons for many aspects of Americanscontinuing focus on physical fitness.Peter Stearns , author of Fat History: Bodies and Beauty in the Modern West McKenzie identifies and delineates a number of touchstone moments at which the relations among health, exercise, and cultural ideology changed in palpable ways. The result is an intriguing, well-written and compelling history that rings true, but also offers a number of new surprises. And it is a genuine pleasure to read!Philip Deloria , author of Indians in Unexpected Places, "A compelling, cohesive, and easy to follow account of the evolution of fitness culture in the United States."-- Journal of Interdisciplinary History, "Early twenty-first century conceptions of physical fitness are often assumed to be scientific truths . . . Shelly McKenzie's Getting Physical reveals that these truths have a specific cultural history encompassing a range of understandings and experiences of the fit body from the 1950s to the present."--Journal of American History, Shelly McKenzie's Getting Physical: The Rise of Fitness Culture in America analyzes one of the most understudied aspects of American culture: the impact on the American body of the move to suburbia beginning after WWII. The fitness culture that we assume to be an integral part of what it means to be American in the 21st century turns out to be a response to the mass flight from the urban environment to the car culture of the suburbs. Fitness may be a contemporary commonplace but it is one with a complex and intriguing history. Clearly written and engaging, McKenzie's account should be required reading for all the public health specialists wondering about the origins of our obesity epidemic.-- Sander L. Gilman , author of Obesity: The Biography An interesting and ambitious book--based on diverse evidence and clear analysis--that effectively explains the origins of and reasons for many aspects of Americans' continuing focus on physical fitness.-- Peter Stearns , author of Fat History: Bodies and Beauty in the Modern West McKenzie identifies and delineates a number of touchstone moments at which the relations among health, exercise, and cultural ideology changed in palpable ways. The result is an intriguing, well-written and compelling history that rings true, but also offers a number of new surprises. And it is a genuine pleasure to read!-- Philip Deloria , author of Indians in Unexpected Places
