Lois Peters Agnew is professor in the Department of Writing Studies, Rhetoric, and Composition at Syracuse University. She is author of Thomas De Quincey: British Rhetoric’s Romantic Turn and Outward, Visible Propriety: Stoic Philosophy and Eighteenth-Century British Rhetorics, and numerous journal articles.

“A smart, honest, and compelling book. Fitter, Happier, is ‘critical’ but in a capacious and open-minded way. There is an ethics of care in the approach.”—Jay Timothy Dolmage, author of Disabled Upon Arrival: Eugenics, Immigration, and the Construction of Race and Disability“The unpredictability of its occurrence and the predictability of its terminal trajectory have long left humanity lost for words on cancer. The 20th century cancer rhetoric has created more visibility for cancer and yet made it more invisible with talk of causes, prevention, and cure. Lois Peters Agnew’s meticulous analysis of personal accounts and institutional artifacts will help both scholars and the public get their bearings on disability at a time when discourses on eugenics nurture dreams of living fitter and happier.”—Suresh Canagarajah, author of Language Incompetence: Learning to Communicate through Cancer, Disability, and Anomalous Embodiment

Lois Peters Agnew is professor in the Department of Writing Studies, Rhetoric, and Composition at Syracuse University. She is author of Thomas De Quincey: British Rhetoric’s Romantic Turn and Outward, Visible Propriety: Stoic Philosophy and Eighteenth-Century British Rhetorics, and numerous journal articles.

“A smart, honest, and compelling book. Fitter, Happier, is ‘critical’ but in a capacious and open-minded way. There is an ethics of care in the approach.”—Jay Timothy Dolmage, author of Disabled Upon Arrival: Eugenics, Immigration, and the Construction of Race and Disability“The unpredictability of its occurrence and the predictability of its terminal trajectory have long left humanity lost for words on cancer. The 20th century cancer rhetoric has created more visibility for cancer and yet made it more invisible with talk of causes, prevention, and cure. Lois Peters Agnew’s meticulous analysis of personal accounts and institutional artifacts will help both scholars and the public get their bearings on disability at a time when discourses on eugenics nurture dreams of living fitter and happier.”—Suresh Canagarajah, author of Language Incompetence: Learning to Communicate through Cancer, Disability, and Anomalous Embodiment

Lois Peters Agnew is professor in the Department of Writing Studies, Rhetoric, and Composition at Syracuse University. She is author of Thomas De Quincey: British Rhetoric’s Romantic Turn and Outward, Visible Propriety: Stoic Philosophy and Eighteenth-Century British Rhetorics, and numerous journal articles.

“A smart, honest, and compelling book. Fitter, Happier, is ‘critical’ but in a capacious and open-minded way. There is an ethics of care in the approach.”—Jay Timothy Dolmage, author of Disabled Upon Arrival: Eugenics, Immigration, and the Construction of Race and Disability“The unpredictability of its occurrence and the predictability of its terminal trajectory have long left humanity lost for words on cancer. The 20th century cancer rhetoric has created more visibility for cancer and yet made it more invisible with talk of causes, prevention, and cure. Lois Peters Agnew’s meticulous analysis of personal accounts and institutional artifacts will help both scholars and the public get their bearings on disability at a time when discourses on eugenics nurture dreams of living fitter and happier.”—Suresh Canagarajah, author of Language Incompetence: Learning to Communicate through Cancer, Disability, and Anomalous Embodiment