Clean Living Movements

"In this provocative exploration of 'clean living movements' in the United States, Dr. Engs has focused on the historical development of efforts to promote healthier behaviors among the American Public....For anyone interested in health behaviors, the book provides substantial information about efforts to improve health practices since the early nineteenth century and should be a valuable resource for a variety of health related professions."-Mary L. Remley Professor Emeritus School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation Indiana University "Ruth Engs challenges everyone interested in health and health education with a historical perspective that clarifies the controversial issues of control and freedom involved in questions of seeking soundness of the body."-John C. Burnham Professor of History and Psychiatry The Ohio State University ?Dr. Engs shows how Americans' fervor for self-improvement occurs in spurts....So far, Dr. Engs says, Americans have experienced three so-called clean-living movements. Each one involved campaigns against tobacco, alcohol, and premarital sex. Dr. Engs tracks the cultural forces that prompt each movement and those that set off each rebellion against health, and the story is told in an appealing way for mass audiences....Whether a reader goes along with her theory, the book is chock full of amusing anecdotes and brief biographies of those she calls health fanatics....Her prediction: the nation will lose interest in preventative health by 2005. And no matter what public health messages bombard today's children and despite an onslaught of new medical findings, health enthusiasm, like other trends, comes and goes. In other words, today's baby boomers may be training for triathalons but their children will grow to prefer martinis and cigarettes.?-New York Times ?Ruth Engs' approach is a fascinating one and puts many of the current issues we are facing in perspective.?-AIM "Ruth Engs' approach is a fascinating one and puts many of the current issues we are facing in perspective."-AIM "Dr. Engs shows how Americans' fervor for self-improvement occurs in spurts....So far, Dr. Engs says, Americans have experienced three so-called clean-living movements. Each one involved campaigns against tobacco, alcohol, and premarital sex. Dr. Engs tracks the cultural forces that prompt each movement and those that set off each rebellion against health, and the story is told in an appealing way for mass audiences....Whether a reader goes along with her theory, the book is chock full of amusing anecdotes and brief biographies of those she calls health fanatics....Her prediction: the nation will lose interest in preventative health by 2005. And no matter what public health messages bombard today's children and despite an onslaught of new medical findings, health enthusiasm, like other trends, comes and goes. In other words, today's baby boomers may be training for triathalons but their children will grow to prefer martinis and cigarettes."-New York Times

RUTH CLIFFORD ENGS is Professor of Applied Health Science at Indiana University, Bloomington. Dr. Engs has published numerous articles and book chapters and is the editor of several works including Controversies in the Addiction Field (1990), Women: Alcohol and Other Drugs (1989), and author of Alcohol and Other Drugs: Self Responsibility (1987).

Preface Introduction The First Clean Living Movement, 1830-1860 Millennialism, New Religions and Health Reform Temperance, Tobacco and Women's Rights Christian Physiology, Diet and Sexuality "Inherited Realities," Phrenology, and Groups with Quasi Eugenic Undercurrents Nativism, Cholera, Public Health, and Cures The Second Clean Living Movement, 1880-1920 Religious Zeal, Physical Culture and Diet Saloons, Suffrage and Smoking Eugenics, Purity and Birth Control Pure Food, Drugs, and the Elimination of "Dope" Tuberculosis, Public Health and Influenza The Third Clean Living Movement, mid 1970-2000? Christian Awakening, "New-Age" Religions, and Wellness Drunk Driving, Smoke Free Environments, and the "War Against Drugs" Women's Lib, Neo Purity and AIDS Fitness, Health, and the New Eugenics Epilogue Bibliography Index