Winner of four major awards, this updated edition of Joan Jacobs Brumberg's Fasting Girls, presents a history of women's food-refusal dating back as far as the sixteenth century. Here is a tableau of female self-denial: medieval martyrs who used starvation to demonstrate religious devotion, "wonders of science" whose families capitalized on their ability to survive on flower petals and air, silent screen stars whose strict "slimming" regimens inspired a generation. Here, too, is a fascinating look at how the cultural ramifications of the Industrial Revolution produced a disorder that...

For over a century children have spent their summers at "sleepaway" camps in the Adirondacks. These camps inspired vivid memories and created an enduring legacy that has come to be a uniquely American tradition. In "A Paradise for Boys and Girls": Children's Camps in the Adirondacks, a complement to the Adirondack museum exhibit of the same name, the authors explore the history of Adirondack children's camps, their influence on the lives of the campers, and their impact on the communities in which they exist. Drawing on the rich documentary and pictorial evidence gathered from the histories...